Ribbons of Change
by StaraLaura
Summary: Sandy's the target for everyone's fury. At school, at sport events, and definately at her house. It seems that she'll never make it to her dream. But there a certain person who might change it all. PLEASE R&R! I NEED REVIEWS! T for language. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, my fourth fic! I did it because I was bored, okay?

This one is dedicated to all of the readers who have read my fics:

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Thank-Q to everyone that looks at my stories. I'm sorry if I didn't put your name in here, but I put in my friends names and reviewers plus the people that put me on their favorite author list. Thank-Q again!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters!

Ribbons of Change

Sandy was briskly walking to school. She knew that she could have taken the bus, but she wanted to stay fit. Stan had complained that it was impossible for her to get fat no matter what since the young teenage human ham always would be outside, running or twirling her ribbon. Sandy thought that this was pathetic, but she kind of thought that Stan was right. After all, she was the one doing laps around the room when the teacher was out. Sandy was in all of the sports that you could think of. Basketball, softball, baseball, football, soccer, golf, bowling, swimming, hockey, ice skating, track and field, tennis, and even rugby were all that she did. She could manage doing this because of the different seasons. For instance, ice skating and hockey were in the winter while softball and baseball took place in the summer. But, her favorite was… rhythmic gymnastics. She loved the wave that her ribbon would make and it felt like she was finally free. It was only her, and she was free to dance and show off. Sandy loved to show off. It was part of the competition, like in football, Sandy could pull off the best "HA! I got this touchdown and you couldn't even stop me and no one ever will!" dance. She was the star in every sport. Star hockey and soccer goalie, best quarterback, tennis superstar, and the girl version of Michael Phelps in the butterfly. Nothing was in her way. Sandy was confident and felt that she was invincible.

Well, except one thing. And that was anything that had to with a brain and a pencil. The school tests were out today. In a student's first class, they would be taking the tests in each subject that would decide which classes they would get into high school. The ham-hams along with Sandy were going to Ham Ham High School, but Sandy felt like some of the smarter hams should get a better chance to go to a better, more smarter high school. _Like Maxwell,_ she dreamily thought as she raced through the doors of junior high.

Sandy sprinted to find that she was the first one there. She glanced at the window and found that she beat the bus. _Wow, I must have been running over here,_ she thought. Only the teacher, Mr. Spat, was there. He was biting into what looked like a rotten apple and Sandy gagged at the sight. Spat looked at Sandy to finally realize that she was in the room. Sandy sheepishly smiled and to her surprise, Spat smiled back. She felt like sinking down into the round at that smile. Spat got up from the table and walked towards a trembling Sandy.

"Well, Ms. Torahamu. It is a very big surprise to see you here this early." Spat smiled that Sandy thought was from the devil. She could feel her throat clog up and thought, _Why did I have to get Spat as a homeroom teacher?_

"Usually, you are quite late to class. Probably goofing off like pushing someone off a cliff, trying to catch attention from your fellow classmates," Spat said through gritted teeth. He was referring to the time when Sandy "accidently" pushed him off the fifty foot cliff on a field trip back in sixth grade. He was lucky that there was water at the bottom. Sandy had him as her first teacher ever since then and every day, Spat despised her more and more.

"Uh, should I be sorry that I'm early?" Sandy squeaked. Before Spat could answer, Maxwell walked calmly into the room. Sandy's throat wasn't clogged anymore, but she started to get that usual squeamish feeling in her stomach. Maxwell was organizing his pencils and placing his books in a perfectly neat pile.

"Ah, Mr. Noppo. You are finally back with that book that I requested. Give it here," Spat said as he held out his hand. Maxwell handed him a book and managed to smile as he did so. Sandy turned her head to the side to see the title read: Medieval Torture. Sandy couldn't help but crack a smile at the title. She knew that she was the target for Spat. As soon as Spat walked back to his desk, Sandy got into her own chair. She was right in front of Maxwell and she was happy that she was seated like this. That way, Maxwell couldn't see her the red that spread across her cheeks so quickly when he was near. Sandy got a swift peek at Maxwell and could see that he was wearing his usual light blue collar shirt and jeans. He had dark, brown eyes to go with the color of his hair that never had a strand out of place. Sandy turned back as Maxwell smiled at her. She thought about her own outfit. Red running shorts, red tennis shoes, red tank top, and a white jacket. Her eyes were a vivid emerald and her hair was the color of honey. All the time she put it in the ponytail, too lazy to ever try to tame it. She gagged at what she wore. It was the complete opposite of Maxwell. _Complete opposites. That's what we are,_ Sandy thought in disgust.

Soon, the other students slowly came in. Stan could be seen chatting with Hamtaro and the others and soon, class began. Sandy was sweating by now. She knew that she had all of the bad grades. She was worst in her class, even more terrible than Stan. Sandy turned her head around to see Maxwell, who gave her a reassuring smile. Sandy smiled back and Maxwell could see that her face was very pale. Spat handed out the test and purposely dropped, then stepped, on Sandy's. Sandy looked at the tattered, dirty paper and frowned. No, it wasn't because there was a tiny piece of gum that was from Spat's foot that made the girl worse. It was the problem. It was so confusing to Sandy. Her head span as she timidly wrote _-6_. She could feel the trouble coming.

_No, that's not right. Wait, isn't that supposed to be a positive? But, when I carried the- Oh, my gosh! Is that an exponent over there!? So I have to the whole thing over again!? Oh, no. They really have to make the print bigger when it comes to exponents. Just like in the library. I swear, they don't even have the right print. I may have perfect vision, but the print is barely noticeable. Maybe I should get my eyes checked up. The last time that I did that was- well, I can't even remember. What are those guys called? Optometrist? Isn't that like Dexter's family? I heard that his parents make eye glasses. Or are they doctors? Man, I wish that my family owned a shop or business._

Sandy went on and on like that until class ended. She was still left in the same position as before. When Maxwell tapped her on the head with his pencil, she waked from her trance. She glanced behind her and Maxwell mouthed, "The test?"

"OH, MY GOSH! LIKE, I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE THE FIRST PROBLEM!" Sandy gasped as she figured it all out. Spat looked up and grinned.

"Five more minutes, Sandra. Not to mention that you're the only one that isn't finished," Spat cackled.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" Sandy screamed. Hamtaro was knocked over at the sound while Stan flung his pencil to the ceiling. Sandy was standing up, furiously scribbling answers and in five minutes, she didn't even finish half of it.

"Tsk, Tsk, Sandra. I seriously would have thought that you could have done better than that. This is a new low!" Spat said excitingly. Sandy groaned and walked off to lunch. She was doomed from the start.


	2. Chapter 2

No comment here. JUST READ IT!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

Sandy was picking at her spinach salad. She couldn't believe that she failed the test. Well, actually she could, but it was still a shock to her. She didn't even finish and what made it worse was that every ham-ham thought it was okay. If they had laughed or made fun of her, then she could run off crying and finally be alone. The matter was so serious that Stan even thought it wasn't funny.

"Sandy?"

Sandy grimly looked up to find the same chestnut eyes staring shyly at her. She looked back at her food. Maxwell sat down and cleared his voice.

"Hey, you're sitting alone today. Are you ok?" Maxwell quietly asked.

"Don't you have all the answers?" Sandy said bitterly as she stabbed a spinach leaf.

Maxwell turned away and said, "Well, I thought that you were a little lonely over here, so I decided to come sit with you."

Sandy's heart flew with delight, but it was as if a mini Spat with a pitchfork popped it. She sank closer to the ground with every pounding thought of the amount of trouble that she would get in at home. Stan even wouldn't be there to enjoy the "fun" like he always did when Sandy was in trouble.

"Sandy?" Sandy warped from her own world and into reality. She looked back at Maxwell. He was clutching his book to his side as usual, but instead of a smile, Maxwell gave Sandy a worried look.

"Are you ok?" Maxwell whispered. Sandy gulped and said, "Well, it was that test."

"Oh." Maxwell knew that he didn't want to insult Sandy. She wasn't the best at the school stuff compared to him. He was every teacher's pet with the exception of Spat. He could tell that the teachers hated Sandy because what she did to get attention. Maxwell secretly thought it was cute, but it was always him who escorted her to the principal's office ever since first grade. _Sandy must hate me by now,_ Maxwell thought. He took a deep breath and said, "Well, I think you don't want me to go. I'll be at the library."

"Wait! No, its ok! I'm sorry for being so quiet," Sandy said quickly, but Maxwell shook his head.

"I can see that you want to be alone and think right now," Maxwell pointed out. He then left towards the library.

_Darn it. He's always right_, Sandy thought. She went back to her half eaten salad just as the bell rang for another test session.

The next test was science, one of Sandy's most hated subjects. She probably failed it anyway because she hadn't studied at all. She barely knew what photosynthesis was. Sandy had always thought it was the blood system of a starfish. But, she remembered that Maxwell said a blood system of a starfish or any echoniderm is the Water Vascular System. Sandy wracked half of what was left of her brain for more information. She finally put her head down and gave up.

That day at gym:

"Go, Sandy! Go, Sandy!" Bijou and Pashmina were cheering in the stands. The gym class were playing dodgeball, a favorite of Sandy's. She could just release the temper in her and throw a heavy dodgeball at someone's fat head and win the entire game. The girls always won with Sandy on their team. She felt like she was number one all the time of course.

"Oi! Maxwell and Hamtaro! Keep your eye on the ball," Boss shouted from the stands whom got out from Sandy knocking a ball to his stomach. Sandy was the only one left on her team and was against Stan, Hamtaro, and Maxwell. She had easily got everyone else out.

"Hey, sis! You would pledge mercy to your twin, right?" Stan pleaded. Sandy had just knocked over Hamtaro with a heavy hit. She had missed Stan by inches. Sandy giggled and said, "Nope, Stan!"

She got her arm ready and hit Stan in the stomach. You could what was a cracking sound all over the gym. It wasn't Stan's rib cage or his spine, but it was the hit that he took when he flew back towards the wall. His neck was angled as the back of his head flew toward the concrete and everyone looked away as he hit. Stan was smiling and said, "Nice throw, sis."

Sandy nodded a thanks and turned to Maxwell. He was clutching the wall in fright by now and weakly smiled at Sandy. The boy's side was quiet as they knew what a terrible dodgeball player he was. Boss groaned and Stan buried his head in his hands. The girls were stomping and yelling that Sandy would get it over with.

Sandy hesitantly picked up a red dodgeball and positioned herself to throw. But, she didn't want to hurt Maxwell who was giving her a thumbs up. How could she?

"Sandy! Now's your chance to throw it, oui?!" Bijou called. Pashmina nodded and Sandy thought, _But he doesn't stand a chance against me. How can I hurt him?_

Sandy then rolled the red ball towards Maxwell and Maxwell slowly picked it up. Sandy spread her arms out for him to throw. Maxwell found himself frozen and Sandy smiled. Maxwell knew that he couldn't hurt her with the speed that he was about to give and threw the ball at Sandy's feet. It rolled for a while and Sandy picked it up. This was getting silly. She was the only one that could end the game.

"Give him the Sandy Sizzler!" Pashmina yelled with her fist pumped in the air. Sandy thought of it and looked at Maxwell for approval. Sandy positioned herself for her most deadly move. It was supposed to be a huge curve with tremendous speed. It looked like it would be off, but it would curve to the victim. She had never missed before and the last kid that got hit with it lost a tooth.

Sandy finally threw the ball, trying not to make this hurt as much as possible. Maxwell could see her arms moving and, as if in slow motion, Sandy threw it. Maxwell knew what to do. He ran towards the ball and just as he had expected, it curved to the right. He saw that Sandy's face was in pure shock that she had missed, but soon she screamed as the ball bounced off the wall and hit her smack in the face. Maxwell was in a daze as Sandy was on the floor, groaning. It was the first time that she got out. Everything was quiet for a while and soon enough, the boys were cheering as loud as they could. Maxwell felt himself being picked up and being called the conqueror of the Sandy civilization. Maxwell jumped down and ran over to Sandy. Every girl was crowding her and Sandy looked to be unconscious.

"Sandy? Sandy, please wake up!" Bijou's whispers were followed by a dozen "good tries", but Sandy didn't wake up.

"Is she ok?" Maxwell asked. Every girl turned to him and Pashmina said, "I think that she's unconscious. She took a pretty bad hit right there." Maxwell felt a wave of guilt and leaned down towards Sandy.

"Sandy?" Maxwell asked. Sandy only groaned and said, "Just 5 more minutes, Mom."

Maxwell chuckled and Sandy knew that laugh. She popped up, only to hit Maxwell on the chin, sending him backwards and Sandy fell back down in pain.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," she groaned to hear that Maxwell said the same thing. She slowly sat up and threw a huge amount of apologies and said, "How did you get past that ball?"

Maxwell was still holding his chin and said, "By the properties of gravitational pull and physical science. The force you excerpt to the ball along with the speed, you could get a tremendous curve by gravity and the spin you put. Therefore, you made a curveball at the last nanosecond."

Sandy gaped and said, "In English, please Maxwell."

Maxwell chuckled and explained, "Based on your body movements, and the speed, you could make a big curveball that I could predict."

Sandy slowly nodded and walked to the girl locker rooms as Maxwell went in the boys locker rooms. Sandy was still a little puzzled, but thought_, He was worried for me._ She smiled and walked out in her usual outfit and Maxwell was waiting for her. She stopped in her tracks and Maxwell smiled. Sandy slowly walked towards Maxwell as he said, "I thought that you wanted to walk home with me."

Sandy nodded quickly and she walked home with Maxwell in silence. She didn't know what to say. The red that crossed her cheeks were growing more and more noticeable and she tried to look away from Maxwell as much as she could.

"So, how do you think that you did with the tests?" Maxwell asked. Sandy gagged at the words and didn't say anything and Maxwell immediately knew that was the wrong question to ask.

"Um, dodgeball was pretty cool today, wasn't it?" Maxwell asked again. Sandy only nodded without a word. _Wrong question, Maxwell! What's wrong with you? Can't you say anything to her?_ Maxwell thought as he wracked his brain for ideas.

"When's your next rhythmic gymnastics competition?" Maxwell and he immediately knew that was the right question. Sandy began to talk rapidly about it and said, "It's tomorrow."

She stopped. Maxwell looked questioningly at her and she squeaked, "Will you come?"  
Maxwell grinned and said, "Of course, Sandy. When have I ever missed one of your competitions?"

Sandy grinned back and found herself staring stupidly back at Maxwell. Sandy could feel that her cheeks burn and noticed a pink coming across Maxwell's nose. After Maxwell bid a goodbye to Sandy, she sighed.

_He was blushing_, she thought in awe.


	3. Chapter 3

Wow! I love the reviews that you guys give me! Thanks again, everyone!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of it's characters.

Chapter 3

Sandy was finishing her rhythmic gymnastics routine. She twirled around, spinning and spinning like an ice skating and finally stop to throw her long, red ribbon in the air. She did flip after flip and finally do a perfect split just as the ribbon flew back into her hand. She could see the people shouting at her and her friends clapping as loud as they could. She took a bow and twirled her ribbon to show who would win.

If only that was the real deal. This was only a practice session at the clubhouse and wanted to show the others what it the routine would be. Everyone would be there which made Sandy's heart soar.

"Is Sandy still doing those baby steps?"

Sandy whipped around to see her rival. She was wearing the same outfit as Sandy, blue instead of red. She tied up her long, dark brown hair in a ponytail and her eyes were a striking sky blue. She had a smirk on her face and walked over to Sandy.

"Clearly, someone is not capable of winning tonight's competition tonight. Pity, I still see you favoring the ribbon," she said. Sandy gave a huge snicker.

"Me? Not win? Mandy, you are so funny sometimes! You know that I've gotten first place in every competition in this league and you are always second," Sandy said as she leaned on the wall.

"Oh, but you haven't seen my secret weapon yet. It's sure to make you _fall_ to the bottom of the competition." Mandy had a huge grin on her face as if she was hiding something.

Mandy looked at Maxwell, and smiled.

"Hey, Maxwell. How are you doing?" Mandy shyly asked. Sandy winced when she was doing this. After all, Mandy liked Maxwell too.

"Oh, I'm doing fine, Mandy," Maxwell muttered. Mandy giggled and started walking out of the clubhouse.

"So, good luck, Sandy. You'll need it," Mandy before striking a huge evil grin at Sandy. The clubhouse door shut and Boss stood up.

"Who was that?" Boss asked. Everyone was looking at Sandy and she groaned.

"That was Mandy. She and me have been total rivals ever since, like, kindergarten. Anyway, I've won, like, all of the rhythmic gymnastic competitions and she's always gotten second. I guess she really hates me," Sandy sighed. She didn't include the part about her liking Maxwell. It jabbed her heart way too much.

"She does not sound very nice!" Bijou gasped.

"Yeah, and with her clothes? I can't believe that she copies Sandy like that!" Pashmina exclaimed.

"I wonder why she only said hi to Maxwell. I mean, we're all nice, right?" Oxnard asked. Sandy felt a bolt to her heart.

"But, Sandy will do great! I'm sure because we'll all be cheering for her!" Hamtaro cheered. Stan shook his maracas and yelled, "Yeah, sis! You hear that? You're going to do awesome!"

Sandy smiled at the people who cared so much. Dexter looked at his watch and said, "Well, I think that we should get going now. It is nearing six o' clock, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, Dex. We don't need any of yer yapper to tell us what to do," Howdy whined. Dexter rolled his eyes and Panda said, "Well, my dad is driving me. Anyone who doesn't want to walk can come."

"Oui! My mom eez driving Pazhmina, Penelope, and Sandy," Bijou said. Sandy looked at her and said, "I never said anything-"

"Sandy, you need a ride. We don't want to you get tired," Pashmina sighed.

"But-"

"Sandy, you need your strength," Maxwell pointed out. Sandy sighed and agreed. The ride stuff was all sorted out and they all started to drive to the gym where the competition would be held. The girls in the car busily talked about different random stuff, mostly about their crushes.

"Who eez your crush, Pazhmina?" Bijou asked. Sandy was sitting in the back of the SUV by herself. She wasn't in the conversation, only thinking about what Mandy had said._ You haven't seen my secret weapon. Its sure to make you fall to the bottom_. Sandy sighed and gave up. She could hear Pashmina whispering to Bijou and Sandy, out of curiosity, asked.

"So, who is it, Pashmina?" Sandy asked. Pashmina giggled and Bijou wagged her finger in shame.

"Sandy, you should pay attention. I'm not going to tell you if you're not paying attention," Pashmina giggled. They moved onto Bijou's crush. This time, Sandy was finally paying attention.

"Who is your crush, Bijou?" Pashmina asked. Penelope was completely not in this and was looking out the window. Bijou blushed as she said the name.

" 'Amtaro," Bijou said. Pashmina squealed and Sandy smiled.

"Hamtaro!? Oh, my gosh! Bijou and Hamtaro make such a cute couple, don't they?" Pashmina asked Sandy. Sandy nodded her head in encouragement as Bijou blushed heavily.

"Okay, Sandy. You're the last one!" Pashmina exclaimed. Sandy felt her stomach churn as Bijou asked.

"Uh…" Sandy said stupidly. Bijou and Pashmina were smiling as they waited for an answer.

"Promise you wont laugh?" Sandy squeaked. Pashmina nodded as Bijou's pigtails bobbed up and down.

"Maxwell." Sandy felt her cheeks on fire as Bijou and Pashmina giggled. She felt like disappearing right now. She felt all the confidence drain out of her as the car parked into the parking lot.

"Okay, Sandy! You make us proud," Pashmina cheered.

"Oui! Ve vill be there rooting for you," Bijou confirmed. Sandy nodded as she saw Stan carrying all of her stuff.

"Hey, sis! Man, these gymnastic stuff is making my spine ache," Stan said as he set down the box of different supplies. It had Sandy's hoop, jumping rope, ball, and juggling clubs. Stan scratched his head and said, "Sandy? Where's your ribbon?"

Sandy gasped and said, "I think I forgot it!"

Stan, Pashmina, and Bijou went white, but Sandy laughed.

"Like, its ok. I have it with me," Sandy said as she pulled out her long ribbon. Everyone sighed and Sandy went backstage. The other ham-hams soon arrived and Sandy looked around to see if she could find Mandy and rub it in her face on how many times she lost. She was no where to be found.

"Hurry up, already!" Sparkle snapped. Mandy and her were in the control room and they had just set up a little trap for Sandy.

"I am!" Mandy barked. She connected two more wires and hooked up the remote control. Sparkle snickered and said, "This is going to be so much fun. Sandy will trip on the piece that shoots up and she'll lose."

Mandy nodded excitingly and said, "You know the plan, right? You have the controls all set up and then press the red button that will send Sandy to history!"

Sparkle nodded and seated herself as Mandy left.

Sandy was pacing back and forth right now. She wasn't nervous. She knew that she could win against Mandy. Sandy noticed that the others weren't so good at the ribbon twirling in which Sandy specialized in. Just then, Mandy came up.

"So, Sandy? You aren't nervous that I'm going to kick your butt, right?" Mandy was smiling as she said this and Sandy replied, "Nope. Besides, you never do. You suck at gymnastics remember?"

Mandy turned red and flipped her brown hair back.

"Well, at least I'm smart!" she snorted. Sandy flinched and knew it was true. Mandy always either got A's or B's. It made Sandy sick.

"And Maxwell likes the smart people, not his opposite! Plush, our fist names match! Maxwell and Mandy! Isn't that so cute?" Mandy snickered. Sandy grabbed her by the collar of her outfit and yelled, "What did you just say, bitch?"

Mandy tried to get Sandy's grip off her new outfit, but Sandy was way too strong.

"Ladies and gentleman! Thank you for coming out to see these talented young girls!"

Sandy and Mandy turned to see that the competition had already begun.

"Good luck. You'll need it," Mandy hissed.

"Break a leg out there. Literally," Sandy retorted.

The two stormed off as the first gymnast started. It went on and on like that until…

"Next is Mandy Chennel! Give a big round of applause for Mandy!" the announcer, well, announced.

Mandy waved at the crowd of people and picked up her ribbon. She twirled it around and around as the music started. No flips, just spins. Flips were the thing that the judges mostly liked. Soon, Mandy threw her ribbon back and started to use her hula hoop. She span in on her arms and juggled the clubs as she did it. Mandy made the ball glide and bounce off her head, her ponytail twirling as she did so. Finally she did an amazing show with her jump rope, far better than Sandy could have ever done. Then, the music ended as Mandy struck a pose with the jump rope over her shoulder. The crowd went crazy and Mandy smirked at Sandy who was watching on the side. She saw that the judges her a 9.2. That was the top score so far.

"Beat that," Mandy said. Sandy felt a rush of energy.

"Lastly, we have Sandy Torahamu. Welcome Sandy!" the announcer said as Sandy bravely took the stage. She could see the others cheering for her, especially Stan who was holding a sign that said Sandy's name. Even Maxwell was chanting with him. Sandy felt herself smile at the others.

The music finally started (Okay, I won't mention the song, because I SUCK at choosing music) and Sandy was pumped. She put her back to the stage and started with the hoop. She whirled it around on her arms and legs. She didn't like it too much. It made her arms hurt so much. Then, she rolled the hoop offstage and began to juggle the clubs. They were flying in the air as Sandy tried her best to impress the crowd when her cartwheel would come. She caught all three of the clubs and threw them in the air as she cartwheeled over to catch them. The crowd went wild as Sandy began to roll the ball back and forth on her arms. Soon, it was time to jump rope and she decided to go fast to match the music. Sandy was a blur as she danced and jumped at the same time. Then, Sandy was doing flips out of midair when the jump rope was gone. It was finally time to do her ribbon act. 5, 4, 3…

"Sparkle, get ready," Mandy hissed into the walkie-talkie.

"Gotcha," Sparkle said back.

2…1…

Sandy was running up to flip and catch her ribbon, but she tripped suddenly. She could feel herself falling, and she collided with the floor. It wasn't the end of it. The ribbon that was tossed to her, tied Sandy up and Sandy couldn't do anything to stop her from falling off the stage.

Which was just about to happen.

Sandy shut her eyes tight and tried to scream, only to find that her ribbon was tightly over her mouth. She knew that this was the end of her act as she fell over the stage and slid towards the bleachers. She stood up and tried to walk, but fell over again. By now, the song was almost over and Sandy knew that it was all over. The audience sort of giggled and Sandy could feel the tears coming.

"Sandy? Are you okay?"

Sandy recognized that one voice and knew it in horror. She could feel the pounding feet of her friends running towards her and Stan yelling, "Sis! Are you ok?"

Sandy was finally untied Stan gave her a reassuring hug and Maxwell was beside him. Maxwell gave her a weak smile, but Sandy didn't smile back. Instead, she took off towards the exit, sprinting at an alarming speed as the tears started gushing out.

"Sandy!" Stan yelled. The judges were a bit dazed, but said, "Because she didn't finish the routine, she is disqualified.

"No! Wait!" Stan yelled. He didn't know which way to go. To the right was his crying twin, and to the left was the judges he hated the most. He was tempted to beat them up, but he was stuck in the middle.

The announcer did a look a little sorry for her, but said, "That means Mandy Chennel wins!"

Mandy rushed out to the crowd and blew kisses towards everyone as the crowd cheered and clapped. No one from the ham-hams dared to congratulate her, fearing that Stan would go on a tantrum if anyone was against Sandy.

Stan felt a rush of pain as he thought of Sandy. He completely knew that he should comfort her, but that would just make it worse. He always felt it was his duty as a big brother to comfort his sister, but this one was a little different. Stan shut his eyes tight and ran to the car. The other ham-hams were broken hearted.

"Poor Sandy," Bijou said.

"Poor Stan," Hamtaro said.

Maxwell had enough of this. He wanted to make Sandy happy and ran outside to find her. He saw Sandy sobbing on the bench, with her ribbon beside her. He hesitated, but walked over to Sandy. He found a small red tulip and picked it. Maxwell put it behind his back and approached Sandy.

"Ahem," Maxwell coughed to get her attention. Sandy popped her head out from her hands and her heart stopped when she saw Maxwell there.

"I have this for you," Maxwell said as he held out the flower. Sandy plucked it from his hands and smiled. She thought that it was so sweet that Maxwell had done this for her. Maxwell eyed the space next to Sandy and said, "May I sit next to you?"

Sandy was busy smelling the flower and quickly said, "Oh, uh, sure!"

Maxwell sat down next to Sandy who's cheeks were about as red as the tulip.

"Sandy, you did great today," Maxwell complimented. Sandy grinned and said, "Um, I tripped."

"No, I meant that you did great today against Mandy. She was bad and the judges only favored her. If you had done your ribbon act, then you would win by a perfect score," Maxwell said. Sandy felt her cheeks on fire and looked away. She murmured a "thanks" to him and everything was quiet.

"So, you want to walk home?" Maxwell asked.

"Oh, ok. If you want me to go that bad, I-" Sandy said, a little startled. Maxwell laughed and said, "No, I mean walk home with me."

"Ah! Oh, um…ok?" Sandy squeaked. She felt Maxwell hold her hand to help get her up and Sandy felt like she could fly. Maxwell smiled and Sandy smiled back. No matter what happened, Sandy felt like she was invicible.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, I'm happy that I could update this! Thanks, guys for the reviews and advice.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters except Mandy.

Chapter 4

Sandy was brushing her short hair. Right now it was down, but she quickly put it up in a ponytail before Stan could barge into her room and laugh at her hair. Sandy loathed how short her hair was, but she needed to put it out of her face when she was playing sports. She sighed as she got on her Nike backpack on and left the house.

She could feel the wind whip through her ponytail the soft breeze on her cheeks. It was chilly out, but Sandy had forgotten to take a jacket with her. In the middle of her walk, she shivered. Sandy was freezing by now. Her teeth chattered as she wandered through the snow. Then, she saw Maxwell.

Sandy stopped in her tracks and looked down, blushing as usual. She could hear that Maxwell was talking to someone.

"Sure, Mandy. I'll walk with you."

"Oh, thanks, Maxwell! That's really sweet of you."

Sandy could see Mandy edging closer to Maxwell and she let out a soft gasp. Her legs started to wobble and her eyes sprung out tears as Mandy grabbed Maxwell's hand. Maxwell gave a smile to her and started walking. Sandy could feel herself getting dizzy as the two walked off into the distance. She wanted to scream so badly out to Maxwell to stop agonizing her. But, wouldn't that give it away? Sandy wanted to punch Mandy right now and she could. But Maxwell would be mad at her for a really long time. So, Sandy could only watched with a horrified expression on her face. Once the two were gone, Sandy started gushing out the tears she tried so hard to hold back. Sandy sat on a nearby bench and sobbed.

Maxwell was reading about the properties of space. Mandy was closely watching and Maxwell felt a little uneasy. Mandy was just staring at him the entire time when he walked with her and now she had the same expression on her face. He wanted to be polite and try to ignore her, but it was hard to read about relativity when the girl was breathing on his neck. Then, Sandy walked in, wiping a few tears. Maxwell put his book down and greeted her with a smile. Sandy didn't notice him. Maxwell coughed purposely and still Sandy didn't look up. She was too distracted with the tears she was trying to wipe off her cheeks to notice. Maxwell sank into his chair. Usually, when he greeted Sandy, she would immense him in "hellos" and "what's ups?". Maxwell finally didn't know the answer.

Spat eyed Sandy carefully because she didn't even make a face at him. Sandy was too busy to notice the Spat walking behind her. She sat down in her chair right in front of Maxwell. She scooted closer to her desk and put her head in her arms.

Maxwell couldn't take it anymore. Mandy was still staring at him, but he didn't care. He reached out and tapped Sandy on the head. Sandy whipped around, unbalanced, and fell on her head when she hit the floor. Mandy burst out laughing as was Sparkle. Sandy didn't care for some reason. She could feel the tears coming once again and she strained not to let them out. _Not now, Sandy! Not in front of Maxwell!_ she thought furiously. She couldn't stop herself. She started to weep in front of Maxwell.

Maxwell couldn't believe Sandy's behavior. Usually, she was really cheerful, but now she was sobbing for a reason that Maxwell couldn't find out. He felt guilty for scaring Sandy and said, "Sorry, Sandy. I was just wondering if you're ok."

Sandy tried to make her voice as normal as possible. She managed a smile and squeaked, "I'm fine."

She quickly got back in her chair and once again buried her head in her arms. She could feel herself sobbing and it sounded as if she was choking. Maxwell, however, was still staring. Mandy was furious at how Maxwell was acting. He was caring for Sandy and not her! Mandy grinned and said, "Hey, Maxy. Do you want to sit by me today at lunch?"

Maxwell shook his head and kept trying to find out what he did wrong. He got nothing. Mandy was in pure shock and said, "But I'll save you a seat by me."

Maxwell turned around to Mandy behind him and said, "No. Mandy, I already said no. Maybe later, ok?"

Mandy pouted and gave Maxwell a puppy dog look. Maxwell, as much as he didn't want to say yes, couldn't resist it. He slowly nodded and Mandy squealed. She ran over to Maxwell and gave him a huge bear hug.

"Thanks, Maxy! You're the best boyfriend ever!" Mandy squealed. She knew that it would catch Sandy's attention and she was right. Sandy whipped around to see Mandy hugging Maxwell with glee. She could hear herself gasp and before she knew it, she was choking with tears. She couldn't help but cry and couldn't manage to turn around. She buried her face in her hands and finally turned around.

Maxwell was shocked. Not only had Mandy just cut off his circulation, but also she had called him her "boyfriend". Maxwell pushed Mandy away and hissed, "Boyfriend? Mandy, I'm not your boyfriend!"

Mandy grinned and said, "Yes, you are. You hang out with me. You sit with me at lunch. You walk with me. That's basically being my boyfriend, Maxwell."

Maxwell could feel the anger boiling up inside of him and Mandy gave the signal. Sparkle nodded and grinned.

"Hey, everyone! Mandy is going out with Maxwell! Aren't they just the cutest couple?" Sparkle yelled. All heads turned around to see Mandy locking her hand with Maxwell's and Maxwell's struggle to pry them apart. Even Sandy was staring at them in disbelief right now. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked like she was miserable for weeks. Mandy bowed a thanks to the crowd that was congratulating them and Maxwell gaped at Sandy's expression. Her face was cold. Her usual friendly emerald eyes were full of hatred. Sandy gritted her teeth at Maxwell and he tried to tell her when he was interrupted.

"Thanks, everyone! I can't believe that me and Maxy are finally going out!" Mandy yelled. Then, she did the unbelievable.

Mandy leaned her face close to Maxwell. Mandy looked into Maxwell's frightened eyes and finally she glued their lips together.

Sandy couldn't find any words as Mandy was kissing Maxwell. Maxwell could see the disbelief in her frightened eyes. Just a moment ago, they were a fiery red, but now, they would as frightened and shocked as his. Mandy finally parted and smiled at Maxwell. Maxwell could only look at her in disbelief. Sandy was back to crying right now and moved towards the empty seat by Spat. Maxwell could only look at Sandy crying when class started.

Sandy was once again sitting alone. Bijou and Pashmina was a table away from her, concerned for their friend after hearing that Mandy had kissed Maxwell. Bijou and Pashmina glanced at each other in silence and sometimes watch Sandy wipe a few tears once in a while.

Maxwell was in the library. He was finding it hard to read, when he thought of Sandy. He couldn't believe that Mandy had kissed him. It was terrible seeing Sandy like this. But… Why did Sandy cry like that when Mandy was anywhere near Maxwell? _What if she… likes me? No, that's not possible. She's the complete opposite of me. Why would she like me? She probably hates me by now,_ he thought. Finally, Maxwell thought of a plan to get rid of Mandy.

Mandy was laughing with Sparkle. They were making fun of Sandy who was sitting alone, red in the face, and crying. Then, Maxwell pulled up to her. Mandy smiled at Maxwell and Sparkle nudged her with her elbow, grinning. Maxwell had a serious look on his face and Mandy thought it made him look even cuter.

"Mandy. I need to talk to you," Maxwell said bitterly. Mandy was a little shocked at his tone, but walked over with him. Mandy noticed that were standing amazingly close to Sandy.

"Mandy, I-" Maxwell began. Mandy shushed him and said, "I know, you want another kiss. Well, I can try."

Mandy leaned closer to Maxwell, but Maxwell pushed her away. Mandy gave another puppy dog look.

"Mandy, I don't like you like that. I'm not your boyfriend and we're not going out," Maxwell said sternly. He glanced at Sandy, who was listening to the entire thing. He sighed in relief. Sandy's face was curling into a smile.

"But, Maxy-" Mandy pleaded. Maxwell gave her a look and said, "Don't call me that."

Mandy looked shocked at him and they could hear Sandy laughing. Mandy glared at the girl who was on her side, laughing as hard as she could.

"SO WE'RE BREAKING UP?" Mandy screamed. Soon, everyone heard her and was silenced. Maxwell only said, "I was never with you, Mandy."

"WHAT!? I THOUGHT THAT YOU LIKED ME! I THOUGHT WHAT WE HAD WAS SPECIAL!" Mandy shrieked. Maxwell shook his head as Mandy stormed off. Maxwell went over to sit with Sandy and smiled. Sandy was giggling and she said, "I, like, totally didn't know that you were that mean."

Maxwell just shrugged and Sandy could feel that squeamish feeling in her stomach again. This day couldn't get any funnier. She finally knew that Maxwell didn't like Mandy that much and she was glad for it. Sandy felt her head pull down from the silence. Maxwell was staring at her the entire time. Sandy looked up and Maxwell looked away. She giggled behind his back because a red had come across Maxwell's nose.

Suddenly, Ms. Harmony, the school principal, was in behind Sandy. Maxwell leaned his head towards Ms. Harmony and Sandy looked back. Ms. Harmony sadly smiled.

"Hello, Sandy. Can I talk to you in private?" Harmony asked. Sandy bobbed her head happily and walked to her office. The two took a seat and Sandy felt that sinking feeling again.

"Uh, why am I here?" Sandy asked. Ms. Harmony sighed and beckoned Mr. Spat (Spat) to come in.

"Sandy, you know about your grades, correct?" Harmony asked. Spat grinned devilishly and Sandy gulped.

"Uh, yes."

"Well, you know that you just about have an F in every class."

"Yes."

Harmony turned her head to Spat and he had a bunch of papers with him. He grinned at Sandy and Sandy could feel her head back up. Spat pulled out a report card and handed it to Sandy. Every subject had an "F" by it. Sandy gasped and before she could ask, Harmony had the answer for her.

"I'm sorry, Sandy. These are your test grades from a couple days ago, remember?"

"Uh… yes?" It sounded more like a question. Harmony nodded solemnly and said, "You need to give up all the sports in store for you to catch up."

Sandy was mute and a frown was crested upon her face. She opened her mouth to protest, but Harmony stopped her.

"_All _sports, Sandy," Harmony reminded.

"Even?"

"Even rhythmic gymnastics."

Sandy definitely felt that sinking feeling. She couldn't give up on rhythmic gymnastics. It was the cherry on her sports sundae. She couldn't take it in and for about the seventh time today, she could feel the tears coming. She shut her eyes tight and knew that this was unfair. It wasn't her fault that she wasn't smart. She was going to be a pro player for sport anyway. Why would she need to give up on it? Sandy was reduced to tears as Spat snickered. _Life isn't fair. It's never fair_, she thought in disbelief.

"But, Sandy. We'll provide a tutor for you to get your grades back up," Harmony promised. Sandy looked up and knew that Maxwell would be her tutor. She knew that he was the teacher's pet and he would be chosen because he was smart and one of Sandy's closest… ahem, friends as Sandy had to put it. She knew for a fact and smiled.

"Who is it?" she asked excitingly. Harmony and Spat glanced at each other in confusion.

"Dexter Megane-Kun."

The day couldn't get any worse for Sandy.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sandy sat down in her bedroom to finish up some homework. Her room was messy, hardly anyone could tell she had a rug on the floor due to the clutter, and full of all of her sports equipment, in no particular area. Cleats, bats, jump ropes, ribbons, you name it. She had even set aside a cabinet that only displayed the best trophies. Some of her favorites were from when her powder puff football team won the regionals the year before, or when she earned first place in the national tennis tournament in sixth grade. Her room was a cherry red color and was so bright, it was nearly blinding to her friends. Sandy didn't like any other colors. Red was the symbol of winning to her and that's why she always wore her lucky red tennis shoes.

"SANDY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Sandy groaned and called back over her books, "I'm in my room, Dad!"

She put her head down to hear the rest. Instead, she heard footsteps.

The door was pulled open to reveal Sandy's stepfather. He was a tall, brunette man with dark blue eyes. He stood in the doorway in his usual attire of a t-shirt and jeans, just like her brother wore. He was completely different from Sandy, but this was understandable due to their relationship. Her own father had died when she and Stan were little.

"Have you looked at your grades?" her stepfather yelled. His face was red to match the room. Sandy gulped and looked down. Her father exploded into an array of curses and insults thrown at her, making Sandy's throat squeeze with fright.

"Mr. Spat told me…" he began in a low voice.

"Spat?"

"YES! SPAT! NOW SHUT UP!" the man roared.

Sandy sank down as he kept rambling on and on about how she was lucky to have him as a teacher for the last seven years and how she should try to at least learn something from him. Sandy didn't dare look away from his face, in fear that he would just scream at her more.

"Now will you get your grades up, Sandy?" her father asked gently, having settled down. Sandy was surprised at his tone.

"Um… yes?" she squeaked. Her stepfather stood up leaned closer to her. Sandy caught the overpowering scent of beer on him. He'd been drinking again, which was not unusual.

"Wrong. Because you are a terrible student. Because can't pay attention. Because you don't give a crap to anything involving a book or pencil. So be ready to fail and shame the Torahamu family once again," he hissed. He slowly raised up a hand and slapped her across the face, causing Sandy to almost fly backwards. She felt the physical sting on her cheek, but an even stronger sting in her soul as he smiled at her as if nothing had happened. Again, the tears were coming. They came all of the time.

Sandy could feel the world spinning as he finally left her room. She froze in her spot. The words stung her, sending chills down her spine when she finally realized that all of what he'd said was true. Her father had always said that she was a disgrace to the family and she should try to be more like her brother.

Stan didn't want to get into this. He knew it would have no effect on helping her. Only Sandy's mother could comfort the girl and it was always sure to work. Sandy didn't know what to do without her should she ever leave.

"Sweetie?"

Sandy turned around to face the door once again and it creaked open to reveal her mother. A pale Stan was beside her. Her mother looked exactly like the twins except that she had brown eyes. She gave a half-hearted smile and Stan mimicked. Sandy sighed in relief and got up.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Stan," Sandy greeted quietly. She couldn't help but smile. Every time that they were all together, it felt like the world belonged to them.

"Was Pop bothering you, sis?" Stan asked. He wasn't smiling anymore and his mother's smile diminished also. Sandy slowly nodded and wore the look of a five-year-old.

"Oh, it's okay. Don't worry, Sandy. We'll be a happy family one day," her mother soothed. They all gathered on one side of the bed, a family tradition of theirs ever since Stan and Sandy were about two.

"It's okay, sis. What did he say?" Stan asked. His mother gave him a stern look and he backed away. "Hey! How else are you supposed to ask?"

Sandy put on a mock grin and replied, "Well, he said that… I'll fail… again. That my grades are horrible like always and that they'll never get any better until I try. But I do try, mom!"

Her mother grimaced while Stan paled. As soon as Sandy saw this, they both smiled.

"That's okay. Pay no mind to him. I bet you'll do great. But remember if you want to get to your dream, you'll have to fight for it." Sandy's mother always had the most convincing chats with her and Stan. She was always there to help.

"Yeah, sis! Don't give up on going to the Olympics!" Stan said as he shook his maracas. Truthfully, Sandy felt like a little girl right then, but it was nice that most of her family was rooting for her. Her mother gave her one last hug and smiled. Stan was out of the room and did the peace sign to make Sandy giggle as he went out. Her mother looked at Sandy, smiling, and then finally left.

Sandy thought for a long time then finally started back on her homework.

At school:

"Sandy? Did you hear me at all?"

Sandy snapped out of her trance and quickly tried to get back to her tutoring session with Dexter.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Of course I heard you, Dexter." She faked a smile. Dexter crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, giving her a skeptical look from behind his gold-rimmed glasses.

"What was I just saying, then?"

Sandy froze and thought for a moment. Actually, she didn't know what subject Dexter was actually talking about. She looked away and blindly guessed, "Math?"

Dexter shook his head and said, "No. History."

Sandy sighed as Dexter told her to flip to page 107 to read on the Black Plague.

"Now, in Europe…" Dexter's voice drifted off as Sandy went back into her thoughts, Why couldn't I get Maxwell? Doesn't he care? Dexter is alright… but he's so boring! Why is it me? Why couldn't it be someone else?!

"Sandy!" Dexter snapped. Sandy immediately looked up and at the clock.

"Oh, look at the time, Dex. Thanks! I learned a lot on the subject that you were teaching me!" Sandy chirped in a phony voice and ran off. She clutched the binder in her hands and ran off to science. Just then, Spat approached from his own class. He walked briskly over to Sandy, a crooked smile on his face, which made her shudder.

"Torahamu-Chan! Come talk with me," Spat snickered. Sandy could sense some kind of danger coming as she followed Spat towards Ms. Harmony's office. She was waiting at her desk and didn't even look up as Sandy appeared in the room.

"Oh! Sandy! You're here." A frown was placed upon her face. She looked at the girl grimly and beckoned her to sit. Harmony mouthed to Spat to leave and he hesitated. Finally, he took a step back and went back to his classroom.

"Yes, Ms. Harmony?" Sandy decided to ask in a meek, defenseless tone, her eyes pleading to know whatever it was that was in store for her.

Harmony looked like she didn't know where to start. She took a deep breath.

"Sandy. I know that you've been through a lot so far this school year," she began. Sandy couldn't take the suspense. She shook, but forced herself to remain calm. Harmony looked at her for a reaction then got up from her desk.

"You want to stay at this school, correct?" Harmony asked. Sandy didn't know what to say. What kind of question was that? she thought.

"Yeah, I do."

Harmony sighed and murmured, "That makes this even worse."

Sandy froze, her eyes widening and mouth agape. "What worse?" She finally realized that she was shouting and quickly closed her mouth.

"Sandy…" Harmony shook her head, as if pondering about what to say next. "Well, let's start at the beginning. We've noticed that you've had no improvement ever since Dexter had started tutoring you-"

"But I don't get a word that he's saying! He makes it so complicated and… boring!" Sandy couldn't help but interrupt. Harmony held her hands up in front of her face to stop her.

"Wait, Sandy. Dexter says that he's been trying to do his best and he confirms that it's impossible to teach you with his own methods-"

"But-"

Harmony gave Sandy a dark look and said, "Let me continue, Sandy."

Sandy sank back into her seat, crossing her arms with a pout.

"Anyway. We cannot accept that a student cannot improve at this school. If you can't do this, you'll be held back this year."

Sandy gaped and protested, "What if-"

Harmony let out a deep sigh and said, "We can't keep a student like this at our school. So…"

She trailed off, which left Sandy wondering. Many thoughts were swimming through her mind, racing each other and fumbling around so that she couldn't think. She just didn't get it.

"What are you saying? You aren't going to make me leave this school… are you?" Sandy could see Harmony shift in her seat and she didn't say anything. "Are you?" Sandy pleaded. Harmony slowly nodded and muttered, "Sorry, Sandy. Your parents already agreed to it. You'll be going to Osaka Junior High."

Sandy could feel the world spinning. The pain was growing more noticeable on her white face. There went all of her dreams. There went all of her friends. There went Maxwell.

And for another time, the tears fell from her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, readers! I'm really glad that some of you read this fic most of the time! I'm in the mood to just write about Sandy and not much of anything else.

This chapter is dedicated to xxPurpelicous! I'm really happy that this person likes this fic! This one's for you!

Chapter 6

"I hate this!"

Sandy had just arrived to her new school called Osaka Junior High. It was terribly far away from Tokyo Middle School and Sandy would live by herself in her own dorm. She didn't know anyone else and it was just an all girls school. Her family wouldn't be there to help her whenever she was down. In fact, her family wouldn't see her until Christmas. It was a living nightmare for the young tomboy.

"Ah, Ms. Torahamu!" a voice called.

Sandy sadly turned around to see a woman striding towards her. She had on black glasses, a long grey skirt with a matching top, and her black hair was tied in a bun. She was holding a clipboard and a pencil balanced on the top of her ear. Sandy was a little taken aback to the office woman.

"We've been waiting-" The woman was cut short to catch a glimpse of Sandy whose clothes were bright and vivid compared to her own wardrobe.

"For you," she finished in awe. Sandy raised her eyebrow and didn't know whether to smile or not. The woman heaved a deep sigh and adjusted her skinny glasses.

"You are Ms. Torahamu, correct?" she asked sternly. Sandy smiled and set her gym bag down that was carrying all of her possessions. She decided to act friendly and do what Maxwell did to win over the teachers. Holding out her hand, she said, "You can just call me Sandy. Ms. Torahamu doesn't really work out for me, you know?"

The woman shook her hand vigorously and replied, "We have been waiting for you, Sandra. I see that you've found Osaka Junior High. Very pleased to meet you, um,_ Sandy_."

Their hands pulled apart and Sandy turned to get a view of the school. The school was a black color with a simple rectangle design. The pillars were positioned straight and the fountain located in the front was just a circle that spouted out water. Sandy tilted her head to the side to see if she was missing something. Never before had she seen a school so… so…._ plain_. It had nothing special compared to Sandy's old school. Her own school was a star shape with the pillars twisted to give it an odd, but amazing spell on the building. Everything about this school bothered her. There was no one talking or shouting or the usual activities for the school. It was as if no one was inside.

"Is there something wrong, Sandra?"

Sandy warped back into the real world and smiled.

"Really. Please call me Sandy. Anyway, am I, like, early? There is no sound coming from the school. It's like so creepy," Sandy explained. The woman stiffened at her improper grammar usage and answered, "Everyone is inside. You are the only student that is tardy."

She waited for a reaction, only to see that Sandy didn't care about being late.

"Osaka Junior High will not give any pupil late slips," the woman said. Sandy shrugged and grinned.

"Well, I guess that I better head over! Do you know where my schedule is?" Sandy cheered. She picked up her gym bag and hurled it over her shoulder. The woman hesitantly handed the honey blonde a piece of paper.

"Like, thanks!" Sandy scanned over her sheet and her goofy smile vanished. Replacing it was a dirty, twisted frown.

"Ahem. Is there something wrong?" the woman asked, concerned for this new student. Sandy nodded and pointed at her schedule. It said: _Biology._

"Oh, yes. Many of our students cherish the excitement in advanced science," the woman smiled, proud of her work.

Sandy pointed to another class. _Advanced Grammar._

"I see that you must want to take note of all the advanced classes. Good for you! You must be happy that you get to learn something new, hmm?"

Sandy's eyes widened in shock and finally jabbed her index finger at one final word. _Calculus._

"Goodness, Sandra! Lucky you! You will be with some of the finest classes that certainly take a chunk of your thinking skills. Calculus is one of the toughest math classes in all of the schools world-wide."

Sandy broke.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT CACULUS WAS MATH!"

She ran off into the distance, leaving the woman confused and in awe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy rushed into her math class. It could only be a person like her who had calculus first class. When, she walked in, she could feel herself tremble back. The top then reasons why she knew that this class would be hell for her were:

10) The teacher was dressed in black just like Spat.

9) All the students hated her look. Sandy could see this by the disapproving frown fitted onto their lips.

8) The equation on the board didn't make any sense to Sandy.

7) It smelled in here.

6) The entire class were full of nerds.

5) So they were jealous of Sandy for looking so popular.

4) Not to mention that Sandy didn't have the uniform like they did.

3) This place looked like hell.

2) Everything was dizzy when she entered the class.

And reason number 1?

Sandy didn't even know how to spell _calculus._

She gave a weak smile and timidly waved. This was one of the times that she felt like she didn't want to show off her ribbon trick.

"Ms. Torahamu, isn't it?" the teacher asked. Sandy nodded, too afraid to correct the teacher. She stood up and shook Sandy's hand.

"You'll need to pick up a uniform immediately. These clothes you are wearing look as if you're ready for gym," the teacher commented. Sandy looked at her in shock and protested, "But… Isn't there a gym here? I dress like this everyday because I had gym everyday before."

The students snickered and the teacher quieted them down. She turned back to Sandy and gave a grave frown.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Torahamu. There is no gym at Osaka Junior High."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA???????!!!!!!"

Sandy was gasping for breath from the intake of the shock. There was no gym here? Then what did they do all day? Study??? She couldn't take it.

"Please go to the front now to receive your uniform," the teacher said.

"Will someone please take her to the office?" the teacher asked. None of the students volunteered. Sandy's heart sank. Before, _she_ was the popular one. _She_ was the most loved and now look at her. Now, she was the most geekiest. She was now the most hated. Sandy gagged when the teacher finally chose a skinny girl with freckles, red hair, and hazel eyes. When the two were walking to the office, the girl stayed at least five feet from Sandy. Sandy wanted to punch the girl so hard and she knew that she could… But she wouldn't want to get in trouble on the first day. Sandy smiled to herself when she would beat up every girl on campus.

"Excuse me? What's so funny?"

Sandy flashed a glance to the red headed girl. The girl flushed and looked away and Sandy couldn't help but feel pity for her. After all, what had the girl done to her? She felt like a jerk now.

"Uh, what's your name?" Sandy asked. The girl looked and brushed her short hair with her fingers.

"Alice," the girl replied quietly. The silence ceased upon them and only until the two reached the office that the awkward quietness was gone.

Sandy was handed her uniform. As soon as she saw it, she accidently groaned. Her uniform was a knee high grey plaid skirt with a while collar shirt and a grey tie. Everything that she hated was right here.

"Um… It's great," Sandy lied. She took it and Alice showed her the bathroom. Sandy murmured a thanks and quickly changed.

"I-I never got your name. What is it?" Alice asked after Sandy fitted her tie on. Sandy sighed and croaked, "Torahamu. Sandy Torahamu."

"Really? That's cool. Studies show that Sandy is one of the more lively names. I predict that you are a real sports fan," Alice explained as she put her hands behind her back, looking like a teacher right then.

"Oh, that's like cool," Sandy said lamely. She started gracefully walking down the hall towards class to find that Alice was in the same spot.

"Uh, are you going to come to class or what?" Sandy asked. It sounded more like a demand, but Alice didn't seem to care. Instead, she gave Sandy a quizzical look and Sandy sighed.

"What is it?" she asked. Alice grinned.

"Am I right?"

"About what?"

"About you being a sports fan."

"You're right on the mark right here. I'm the one that is doing jackknives during class," Sandy admitted. Alice turned her head to the side and questioned, "What are jackknives?"

"Oh, you know. They're a kind of throwing knife that you throw at the chalkboard."

Alice gasped, worried that Sandy would actually do that. Sandy held her hands up in front of her face and assured, "I was totally kidding. Like, I don't throw knives. Jackknives are a kind of exercise. I could show you some."

Alice nodded and the two walked to class. Sandy was smiling, happy to know that at least one person liked her.

Sandy thought that the day had went smoothly. She finally understood the Pythagorean Theorem in another math class and was exhausted in her dorm. She had just moved in before and was the only one so far in the room. Sandy looked around to see two desks with two lamps and a bunk bed. There wasn't much after that. Even the paint color was just a plain white.

"How the heke can they be this boring? I should totally do something about this," Sandy thought aloud.

"What are you saying?"

Sandy whipped around to face a girl with brunette hair and her own uniform. Her hair was tied into a braid and her dark blue eyes penetrated Sandy. They were cold and hard, frightening Sandy to death. Sandy backed up and said, "Hey, I was just saying that this school needs something to it, you know? Like it needs some change."

The newcomer frowned and her eyebrows scrunched up. "You aren't going to redecorate are you?"

Sandy didn't know what to say. First of all, this girl was completely nosy and impolite. Second, she never even smiled and her frown just stayed imprinted on her face. Sandy thought that this couldn't get worse, being caught of redecorating the school.

"Uh… No. It was just a thought," Sandy lied. The girl bobbed her head and lifted her backpack to the top bunk. She dumped all of her school supplies on one of the desks, leaving Sandy just staring the entire time. Sandy felt like an idiot right now. She had just gotten used to school and this girl would ruin it for her.

"Uh, what's your name?" Sandy asked to do something about the unfriendliness in the air.

"Sydney." The girl didn't look happy to say it.

"Hey! That totally sounds like my name! I'm Sandy." Sandy held out her hand to shake it and Sydney's mouth curved into a smile. Sydney shook Sandy's hand and asked, "Do you want the top bunk? I feel kind of mean from before."

"It's ok! I have an older twin named Stan and I'm like so used to sleeping on the bottom bunk," Sandy explained. Sydney squealed and said excitingly, "Is he cute? I bet he's cute!"

"Uh, since we're identical twins… I guess he looks exactly like me besides the whole being a girl thing," Sandy said slowly. Sydney flushed and grinned.

"Sorry. But, do you like any guys right now? And if you do, do you think that he likes you back? What do you two have in common?" Whatever Sandy expected, it wasn't that. She flew back in terror and her breathing quickened. Sydney gasped and rushed over to her.

"Are you ok?" Sydney asked as she helped Sandy up. Sandy sighed and turned the lights off. She climbed into her bunk.

"I do like a guy. I've liked him for a really long time, with all of my heart. And we have nothing in common."

"We're polar opposites," Sandy said bitterly. She turned to the side and Sydney asked, "Do you think that he likes you back?"

Sandy ignored her.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey! I'm going fast with these chapters!

Note to DS 16:

Sorry for not sending these for you to beta. I wanted this one to be a surprise for you!

Here it goes! The most dramatic chapter of Ribbons of Change!

Chapter 7

Sandy was eating her usual organic and healthy lunch consisting of a whole wheat sandwich, salad, and an orange. Sandy always had to have an orange. It was her only favorite fruit and she had it every sports game. Eating an orange here brought back the old memories of sports. Sandy never got to play sports anymore. No one from her classes would ever want to play against her since she would always win and they didn't know how to even play. She sighed. Sandy had only two friends at Osaka Junior High. Alice and Sydney were great. Alice liked to hear about Sandy's greatest sports moments and Sydney kept asking about Sandy's crush. But Sandy never told her the name, though she described him perfectly. Even if it was tempting enough to let his name slip through her mouth.

"Hey, Sandy."

Sandy looked up to find Alice and Sydney with a ball, bat, and glove. Sandy gaped and Alice said, "We want you to teach us how to play baseball."

"Its only the most popular sport in Japan," Sydney added. Sandy grinned and replied, "How about today after school?"

The two nodded and Sandy smiled._ Those guys are such idiots. But they're my idiots, _she thought as she peeled her orange.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, we're going to catch first."

"Alright."

"Give me your best throw!"

Sandy, Alice, and Sydney were on the baseball field. Sandy had gotten two spare gloves and some new baseballs they bought downtown. There was a soft breeze and it was warm for late fall. Sandy handed each girl a glove and smirked as she saw them try to put them on. She giggled and said, "Here, let me help you."

Sydney gave a dirty look and tossed her nose in the air.

"I can put this on! Don't you dare think that I can't!" She continued to struggle on. Alice gave a pleading look at Sandy and Sandy trotted over.

"Okay, you put the glove on your opposite hand that you write with. What do you call that?" Sandy instructed.

"You call it a dominant hand. Geez, Sandy. I thought that you would know," Sydney said as she butted in. Sandy knew that she had overheard them and put on her glove the right way.

"Okay, whatever. Anyway, let's start catching. We'll form a triangle and start to through and catch whichever way. I'll start," Sandy announced. She made sure that everyone was in their specific places and had a few tricks up their sleeves.

"Hey! Alice and Sydney! Don't you think that you want to calculate where the ball will be and how much force will be put on when you throw it?" Sandy said. She tried not to laugh, but she knew that it was going to work as the girls' heads bobbed up and down.

"Okay, Sydney. Get this!" Sandy yelled as she threw the ball towards Sydney's face. Sydney's face scrunched up as she tried to predict where the ball would head. Just when you thought she had it, the ball smacked her chin, making the braided girl step backwards. Alice laughed while Sandy pretended to be angry.

"It curved," Sydney said plainly as if this was an excuse.

"But, your calculations were wrong!" Sandy pointed out, grinning in the process. Sydney picked up the baseball, rubbed her red chin, and was in position to throw it.

"Watch. I'll get my calculations right!" Alice exclaimed as she bent down, ready to catch. Sydney backed up her arm and focused on Alice's face. She threw it with all of her might, which Sandy noted wasn't very fast, but it was effort. Alice's face was still and the ball aimed towards her arm. She momentarily caught it, but the ball finally slipped out of her glove.

Sandy shook her head in shame while Sydney chortled. Alice grabbed the ball and frowned.

"But I'm one of the best students. I should have had that!" she said through clenched teeth. Sydney got on all fours and cackled even more. Alice tossed her head towards the girl and gave a glaring look. Sandy rolled her eyes as Sydney got up and saluted her, giggling.

"Anyway, Alice toss it over here." Sandy got her glove ready the way she usually did in the baseball games back home.

Alice threw the ball and to Sandy's surprise, it was curving. Fast. The ball spun as it moved to the far right and Sandy had the adrenaline rush that she had whenever a hit would come like this. She had always been shortstop, diving for the ball on the time, catching all of the outs. Sandy couldn't help but smile as she dived for the ball and the grass stained her outfit and her hair was all out of place. All that mattered was she had caught the ball and Alice and Sydney were in shock.

"H-How did you do that?" Sydney murmured.

"You didn't do any calculations!" Alice said, reading Sandy's mind.

"I was kidding when I said that you guys should use calculations!" Sandy laughed. Alice and Sydney looked at each other and glared at Sandy.

"You don't need to use your brain." Did it really take them this long to figure this out?

"Sports are not to have another math class." The same blank looks were on their faces. Sandy loved to say this. It reminded her of _his_ wise advice.

"Sports are to lead with your heart." Alice's lips curved into a smile while Sydney crossed her arms in frustration.

"You don't use your brain in sports. You do what comes naturally. You use your heart," Sandy stressed. Finally getting the message, Alice and Sydney went into a full grin.

Suddenly, the song of "All Star" played through the sky. Sandy got out her phone to see a call that was sent by: _Mom. _

Sandy excitingly clicked a button and heard her mother's voice.

"Hello? Sandy?"

"Yeah, it's Sandy. Hey, mom."

"Oh, hello, sweetie! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you a lot too." It was the truth. Sandy always thought about her mom. It was pretty childish thing to think about, but it always comforted Sandy.

"Now, listen. Your father and I had a fight…"

Sandy listened, sort of happy for what was coming up.

"So, we divorced. He moved to America, honey."

Sandy could feel the leap in happiness in her heart. This was the dream of her life. Being free from her evil step father was the best for Sandy. But… Sandy couldn't help but fell bad for her father. He was just looking out for Sandy and it hit her that he actually did care about her. He might have not showed it… But… He was _nice_ inside. Sandy's heart quickened and realized what trouble she caused. What trouble she always caused and it was terrible for her. No wonder her father hated her. She was a disgrace. She was awful. Sandy could never do anything right.

"Really?" Sandy squeaked into her red cell phone.

"Really. And Tokyo Middle School said that you could come back. Your grades are above a C, so you can come home and see all of us!" Her mother's voice shook with excitement. Sandy gasped.

"Uh, ok, Mom." Sandy didn't want to leave her friends. But, there were her other friends there. There was her brother. Not to mention _him._

"Will you come home with me? I'll pick you up. In fact, I'm already in the car and Stan set up such a sweet party for you to come home," her mother pleaded. Sandy thought. She had to go. Stan was waiting with probably all the ham-hams and her mother's voice was begging her to go. How could she stay?

"Sure, mom. Come pick me up. I'll go get my stuff," Sandy replied, trying her best to sound happy.

"Okay, bye sweetie. I'll see you real soon."

Sandy turned to Alice and Sydney as she hung up. Her new friend's faces were in horror.

"You're going to leave us?" Alice squeaked.

"But, I thought that you liked it here," Sydney begged. Sandy looked away. She couldn't say it. Not to their faces. Sandy took a deep breath and whispered, "I have to go back. My family's there. My friends are there. My-"

"Maxwell's there," Sydney finished. Sandy whipped her head towards Sydney. Alice looked shocked herself.

"H-How-" Sandy stammered.

"You write his name in your notebooks. So your going to leave us for your more important friends, aren't you? You're going to leave us because _your_ Maxwell is there," Sydney hissed.

"I can't believe you," Alice yelled.

"N-No! I-I…" Sandy didn't know how to say it. Alice gave Sandy a cold look and Sydney ran out of view. Alice didn't spare a glance at Sandy as she ran with Sydney. Sandy's heart broke into thousands… no… millions of pieces.

She walked home. Why did it matter to her? They were just some geeks who wanted to be popular like her. _No, they're more than that. They are some of my best friends and they wouldn't do that to me. How could I have done this?_

But Sandy couldn't turn back. Her mother was already on the way to pick up Sandy and Stan was waiting. Besides, Sandy had their phone numbers. She could get this straightened out.

Sandy ran to her dorm to find Sydney wasn't there. Sandy packed all of her stuff except a baseball and two gloves. She smiled when Sydney would be surprised to find Sandy's lucky baseball on her bunk. Sandy wrote a note, trying to make an effort to apologize.

_Alice and Sydney,_

_Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm really sorry. I have to do this. You two are on the top of my list for friends. That can never change no matter how many baseballs you throw at me._

_-A retarded idiot who can't see the good things in her life_

Sandy taped it to Sydney's desk and left the dorm.

She was waiting on a bench where her mother said that she would pick her up. Sandy was waiting all the time. Waiting for her mom to pick her up. Waiting to get out of this place. Waiting for her sports dream to come true. Waiting to tell Maxwell her undying love for him. Waiting for something good in her life to show up.

It was getting dark out. A drive from Tokyo and Osaka couldn't take that long. It was about two hours away. (A/N: I don't really know. Let's just call it two hours.)

Sandy kicked a pile of leaves when her phone rang. She viewed the caller and her eyes widened in shock to find Maxwell was calling. Sandy never gave out her number to him… Although she always wanted to. She picked it up.

"Hello?" Sandy said into her phone. Sure enough, Maxwell's voice was speaking to her. But, it wasn't the calm tone like usual. His voice was stressed and worried.

"Sandy? Sandy? Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, Maxwell. Why?" Sandy was a little worried that Maxwell was scared.

"Where are you?" Maxwell demanded.

"Uh, I'm at the school-"

"No! I mean what street are you on?"

Sandy turned her head to view the street sign.

"I'm on Osaka Way. Why?"

"Oh, ok. There was an accident on Boulder Street. Two cars were in a head on crash."

"Wait. When?" Sandy was a little worried, not for Maxwell, but for something else.

"About three hours ago." _Oh. My. God. Mom should have been here about three hours ago, _Sandy thought in horror.

"What cars got in the crash?" Sandy asked.

"Uh, a red SUV and a grey Acura," Maxwell said. Sandy grimaced. Her own mother had a grey Acura.

"I have to go," Sandy croaked.

"Ok, Sandy. Good-bye. I'm a the party so I'll be waiting," Maxwell said. Sandy hung up and ran towards Boulder Street.

The scene was crazy. There were about twenty police cars and people were still in horror at the two cars. They didn't even look like cars now. The SUV had clobbered the Acura, which was upside down right now. Glass was everywhere and car parts were scattered around the entire area. Then, Sandy saw it.

A little red keychain was on top of the steering wheel that rolled to Sandy's feet. It said: Gymnastics Mom.

Sandy gasped in horror and ran past the yellow tape. The police officers ran to hold her back, but held back after Sandy's words screamed in horror.

"That's my mom's car!" Sandy cried. All heads turned to Sandy as she picked up the keychain and cradled it in her hands. The police officers ran to her and all Sandy could do was stare at this keychain that her mother always had with her.

"Is this yours?" one officer asked, pointing towards the keychain. Sandy shook her head.

"It was a birthday present to my mom. Please, just let me see her," Sandy begged. It worked. Soon, she was riding in a police car and fiddling with the keychain in her hands. She was then escorted to a hospital room with her mom in it. Sandy gasped. Her mother looked to have many broken bones and the gashes on her face scared Sandy. Blood stained her clothes.

"Mom?" Sandy choked. Her mother turned her head to view her daughter and she tried to smile. Sandy smiled back and pulled up a chair.

"Sandy…" her mother said before drifting off.

"Yeah, its me!" Sandy said. She smiled and the doctor came in.

"Is she going to be alright?" Sandy asked. _Please say yes. Please!_

Instead, the doctor looked at the ground.

"Her chances are surviving are slim…" the doctor stated. Sandy just stared.

"B-But-"

"She has seven broken bones, bleeding, and her skull is deeply cracked," the doctor whispered. Sandy's eyes widened in horror.

"No! Please! She has to survive. I don't believe you!" Sandy cried. The doctor didn't say anything. He headed towards the door and before he left, he said, "We've tried everything. I'm sorry."

And Sandy was left alone with her dying mother. Suddenly, her a hand touched her shoulder.

"Don't believe him. We're going to be a happy family," her mother said. Sandy held her hand and smiled. Her mother retracted her hand back and rested. Sandy enjoyed smiling at her mother when it was ruined by a sound that would haunt Sandy for the rest of her life.

_BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP_

Sandy turned her head towards the monitor that showed the heart beat. It was a straight line. Sandy looked at her mother in horror. Her eyes were half closed and her face was pale white.

"Mom?" she squeaked. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. She immediately pressed a red button.

"Help! Please! We need help!" Sandy said frantically into the microphone. Instantly, nurses and doctors came running in to see a ghost white Sandy. They looked at the straight line on the screen and their faces fell. They all looked at Sandy and one stepped up.

"I'm sorry. We can't do anything," a nurse said.

"NO! What do you mean that we can't do anything!?" Sandy yelled.

"We can't do anything, Sandy, because she's go-"

"SHE IS NOT GONE!" Sandy screamed. She ran over to the equipment, trying to find a way to bring back her mother. About three or four people had to hold her back.

"SHE CAN'T BE GONE! GOD, NOT AT A TIME LIKE THIS! PLEASE, GOD, NO!" Sandy yelled through clenched teeth.

And the tears started to pour out.


	8. Chapter 8

I got an amazing number of reviews on that last chapter, didn't I? Gosh, I started a riot… I feel so guilty now.

**A/N: If you guys want a sequel to this, please say so in your reviews. If I get more than five reviews saying that you guys want a sequel, you get it.**

Chapter 8

Sandy's P.O.V:

I hate my life. It's the most awful life that you could ever come by. Two of my best friends _hate_ me. Spat _still_ despises me as much as before, which was a lot. My mom's _dead._ I hate it. I'd rather turn into a thief, murder, and go to hell than to continue this.

Regular P.O.V:

The funeral was short. Sandy was glad. If it lasted more than two hours, she would probably attack the grave shrieking for her mother to come back. And she really wanted to do that. She only had her stepfather to help her and her twin, but he was in America. _As if he would care_, Sandy had thought for the mourning days. She had ruined it with Alice and Sydney, the people who really helped her besides the ham-hams. It was a disaster now.

Sandy was leaning her head on her old desk at her old school in her usual place right in front of Maxwell. Even though that she went to an advanced school, learned a few things, and had a C in all of her classes except for gym, Spat still treated her as if she was the stupidest person in the world. He cackled at Sandy's torture. He still was still giving Sandy's F's on her homework even if the answer was right. He just claimed that she didn't show work and gave a red check next to the problem in front of the entire class. He did the same things that he had done before Sandy left. The reality slapped Sandy right in the face. Oh, how she would love to grab one of the knives that the emo kids had in their pockets and slit her throat and let it all be over. Just like that. She wouldn't have to worry about any of her grades, her friends, her enemies, and her father. That would be the end. No more suffering. No more stress. No more anything. Sandy would have gladly done it right on the spot. But there was something stopping her.

And Sandy didn't know what it was.

It wasn't fear. She wasn't scared of death.

It wasn't anger. She had let all of her anger out after tripping Spat in the hallway.

It wasn't love. She thought that love was hopeless.

Then, what was it?

"Sandra Torahamu!"

Sandy's thought bubble popped and deflated just like what happened to her hopes and dreams.

"Solve the problem on the board!" Spat yelled, nearly deafening the honey blonde. Sandy hastily got up and sneaked a peek at Maxwell. He smiled, making Sandy go a crimson red.

The problem on the board was too easy for Sandy. It was finding the missing side of triangle. She softly laughed at the simplicity of the problem, something that she never expected to happen since of some of the events that had happened. The triangle's base was thirteen and so was the other side. The only side that was unlabeled was the hypotenuse (The diagonal side of the triangle. It took forever for me to remember that word. I had to look it up on Google. Okay, back to the story!)

Sandy swiftly wrote 13 root 2 and stepped out of the way to show the class. Spat rolled his eyes at Sandy's proud fake smile and flipped to the answer sheet. His eyes widened in shock and his face paled as he read the answer. He cleared his voice and the way he choked out the words looked very painful.

"That's correct," Spat said, his voice hoarse. Everyone snickered at Spat's appearance and shock. Sandy tapped a little victory dance to show her winning, Maxwell beaming at her for her first right answer at the board in math.

Sandy must have gotten ten high fives on the way to her desk with Maxwell mouthing a "great job" to her. Sandy got that feeling back. She could her face was hot and it got worse when Maxwell grinned in cluelessness at Sandy's behavior.

"Good job, sis!" Stan yelled from across the room and Hamtaro shook his head in agreement. Sandy smiled and quickly got back into her desk before Maxwell could find out what was happening to her face.

_Why can't he just stop being so nice? I hate it when he does that. It makes me love him even more,_ Sandy thought in agony as she pounded her fist on the desk. She was really losing it. She had to tell him some time.

"Shut up, students! We have two new pupils here," Spat announced. Sandy perked her head up and her lips parted to an "O".

In the doorway were Alice and Sydney.

"Hey, it's nice to meet _all_ of you," Sydney said, her eyes on Sandy as she strained the word "all".

"Hi," Alice quietly said. In a rush, Stan was by their sides, his arms around both their shoulders.

"Well, well, well. I don't get a few hotties like you two often," Stan flirted. Alice brushed his hand away, but Sydney blushed deeply.

"I don't get a few hotties like you two often," Stan repeated, as if he was waiting for something to happen. Everything was quiet as Sandy's mouth was agape in shock and in pain.

"I SAID! _I don't get a few hotties like you two often!_" Stan repeated, his eyes furiously on his twin sister. Sandy finally got the message and dragged Stan to his seat, leaving the two confused girls standing alone as Sandy quickly got into her seat. Spat showed the girls' seats in the back and they quickly ran over there, not sparing a passing glance at the waving Sandy. Sandy's face fell as Sydney flipped her hair and Alice tossed her nose in the air. Sandy felt the amount of pain coming and a wave a guilt every time. Only Maxwell could see it.

_What's wrong with her? Is she just sad that her mother is- Does she know those two? I wonder…_ he thought as the curiosity agonized his intelligent brain. He grinned as he ripped out a tiny piece of paper and wrote something down.

_You all right, Sandy?_

He threw it to Sandy, which neatly landed on her desk. Sandy read it and smiled. Maxwell never passed notes to just anyone. They had to be really special. Her hand shook as she told the truth.

**No.**

She tossed it back and Maxwell opened the paper to see the word in much sloppier handwriting than his own, but he didn't care. He was just happy that he got a honest answer.

_I'm sorry. If you don't mind me asking, what is bothering you? I care, Sandy. I really do care._

He thought that he should be polite and show that he was telling the truth. He tossed to Sandy who was ready and immediately grabbed it and started writing an answer. He couldn't help but chuckle. Sandy had always loved to talk and Maxwell always knew it. He could always read Sandy's mind and expression._ Just like a book_, he thought as he crossed his arms across his collar shirt and retrieved his answer.

**I'm just sad.**

_I know that you are. I'm sorry, Sandy. But, it's been at least a week so far. What's really happening?_

Sandy hesitated as she wrote the truth on the crumpled piece of paper.

**It's them. The two new girls.**

_Is there something wrong with them?_

**They completely ruined it.**

_Ruined what?_

**My life.**

_That really is terrible. They looked like they knew you, though. Are they mad at you?_

**Yes, they know me and they are mad at me.**

_Do you mind if you tell me? I don't want to be rude and intrude on your business, but I want to help._

**Of course I don't mind. They were mad at me because I wanted to go back home and leave them. **

_Oh…_

**Yeah.**

_I hope that you get back together if you really liked them. I'm sorry that they ruined it._

Sandy hesitated as she wrote the next answer.

**I think I ruined it instead of them. :-(**

_Oh. I hope that you get it sorted it so you can be :-)_

Sandy giggled at Maxwell's smiley face. Maxwell leaned back in his chair in victory at making his friend happier. He knew that a little joke always helped his friend. But he could never figure out that only himself could help.

Then, Sandy had an idea. She couldn't tell Maxwell that she loved him. Not to his face. So…

**I was wondering…**

_Yes? You can ask me anything._

**LOL. That's because you have all the answers.**

_It's a bad habit. What is it that you wanted to tell me Sandy?_

Sandy's face paled when she wrote, her heart in her throat.

**I was wondering who you like.**

That one shocked Maxwell. His face paled and his eyebrows went up. His fingers shook as he read it over and over again.

And Sandy waited. She was waiting to see if Maxwell liked her as much as she liked him. Finally, the answer flew over her head and landed right next to her thumb.

_I like the ham-hams._

Maxwell could see Sandy chuck her hand at her head in disappointment. What had he done wrong? The reply came very soon.

**No, I mean if you like a girl.**

Maxwell could feel a lump in his throat as he looked at Sandy. Never before had he ever felt like this before around her. His face was hot and his palms were sweating. He bit his lip as he threw the paper at Sandy's desk.

Sandy retrieved a new piece of paper. She opened it, her heart flying out of her mouth.

It was blank.

She turned around to Maxwell in confusion and he only looked away, whistling what sounded like Beethoven.

"What is this?"

Sandy and Maxwell looked up to see a smirking Spat as he read grabbed the two pieces of paper containing the notes. He was laughing as he read the notes to the entire class. Sandy couldn't take it anymore. She basically tackled Spat in order to retrieve her notes and ran back to her desk. Spat was left on the ground in which he looked to be unconscious. The room was full of "ooooooooohs" and "you're going to be in so much trouble". And boy was Sandy going to be in trouble.

Suddenly, Spat pounced on Sandy's desk and hissed through gritted teeth, "See me after class."

Sandy didn't know that Spat could be so angry. Sure she saw it enough, but this was probably the worst.

"Um, sir? It was me."

All heads turned towards the speaker and Sandy's gasped when she saw who it was.

It was Maxwell.

Never had anyone none that Maxwell took the blame for anyone else before. Spat raised his left eyebrow and grinned.

"_You_? Out of all people, Maxwell?" he asked as he put his hands behind his back, waiting for Maxwell's story. Maxwell was looking down at his feet and mumbled, "I told Sandy to tackle you because you had my notes."

That surprised everyone. It surprised Sandy the most and Spat only grinned wider.

"Well, that's interesting. Torahamu, you'll have detention with me for the rest of week. Noppo, you'll be making a call home and a suspension," Spat said as Maxwell's face dropped. Sandy felt even worse for him. He had done nothing wrong and it was her who really got him in trouble. Everything circled around her. And that's why she hated her life so much.

Spat made a signal for Maxwell to come to the phone and Maxwell sank into his seat. He slowly got up and made his way to the phone. All eyes were on him. He gulped a wad of spit in this mouth that finally went down and dialed his mother's number.

"Hello?" Maxwell asked. The others could hear a faint answer back.

"Um, hi, Mom. Look, I'm happy that you got a raise and all, but there's something I have to tell you," Maxwell said. Sandy's heart was ready to burst. No one had moved an inch. Never before had Maxwell called home.

"Listen. I did something bad. And now I have a suspension," Maxwell choked. Yup, Sandy's heart burst into a million pieces. _But, Maxwell. You didn't do anything wrong. It was __**me**__. It's always me, _Sandy thought in disgust.

And after Maxwell's mother heard this from her son, you would think that there was an alien invasion inside the sound. There was so much screaming and cussing in the phone that everyone had to cover their ears and poor Maxwell felt his arms ringing.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT STUPID BLONDE TO DO SOMETHING THAT BAD!? HUH, MAXWELL?! WHY ARE YOU EVEN FRIENDS WITH HER!? SHE'S TROUBLE AND I KNOW IT!" the phone rang with screams of hatred. Maxwell's face fell and Sandy could feel the guilt come back. She couldn't bear it anymore. She ran up to the phone, took it, and said back, "Maxwell had nothing to do this. Like, you should stop yelling at your son because you love him. He was just trying to back me up. He's a totally great guy who's smart and funny and fun to be around and exciting and not to mention he has a cute butt."

That last line escaped Sandy's lips before she knew it. She slowly looked at the class to see they were as white as she was.

"What?" Mandy asked.

"What?" Stan questioned.

"What?" Alice and Sydney yelled.

"What?" Spat copied.

"_What?_" Maxwell asked. His face was the palest and his eyes were bugging out. Sandy blushed and said, "I didn't say anything. I said that he has cute hair, ok?"

Everyone nodded slowly and Sandy breathed a sigh of relief. Sandy then said into the phone, "So you can just forget that he did anything wrong. It was all totally me. And you really shouldn't yell like that. Thanks, bye."

And Sandy hung up and casually walked to her desk while everyone else was in silence. Maxwell walked back to his own desk and whispered a thanks to Sandy.

Sandy leaned back in her seat as she knew that she finally did something right.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that day, Alice and Sydney ran up to Sandy as school got out.

"Hey, Sandy," they both said. Sandy nodded a greeting and started walking to the clubhouse.

"Wait! We wanted to say that we're sorry," Alice exclaimed.

"And that what you did for Maxwell was really cool," Sydney said. Sandy sighed and turned around.

"Look. I was a lousy friend, deserting you like that," Sandy admitted.

Sydney and Alice shook their heads.

"We're were completely overreacting," Alice said.

"Its just a friend like you doesn't come around," Sydney explained. Sandy could see their faces in an apologetic expression and she smiled.

"Like, sure guys. How could I say no?" Sandy cheered. Alice and Sydney brightened up and grinned. Finally, _finally_, things were going right.

And it was about to get brighter. _Finally._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sandy was pacing around the floors of her house one last time. She was just about to move in with her grandparents. Sure, it was far from her current school, but at least she was going to the same place as her brother this time. Sandy couldn't help but feel waves of guilt creeping up her spine whenever she looked around the kitchen. Her mother usually would be found in there, always cooking. Sandy was a terrible cook, but her mother taught all of her recipes to Sandy and Stan, especially when they were little. The Torahamu girl could see herself as a little four-year-old, licking the cookie dough off her fingers as her mother swiftly placed the batch of cookies into the oven. Sandy smiled at the thought, but it was quickly replaced with a frown. This moving would have never happened if Sandy had simply kept her grades up and stayed at her own school. Her mother wouldn't have been killed in a car accident. Sandy could still be baking brownies with her right now if it wasn't for what she'd done. The truth and discovery smacked the girl clean in the face, making it hurt even more. As if she needed more pain. Already, so many people had made things worse. Spat. Mandy. Sparkle. Her stepfather... Sandy's hand curled into a fist just thinking of their names.

"Hey, sis? Are you sure that you need this?" Sandy turned around to see Stan trying to balance a red lamp with one hand and a trophy in the other. She rushed over and put both of her possessions on her shoulders.

"Of course! Remember? This is like, my state bowling trophy and the totally special red lamp that I got with Bijou and Pashmina!" Sandy cried out. Stan rolled his eyes and said, "You'll need to get rid of some stuff, Sands. I mean, c'mon. I've got half the crap that you have." Sandy narrowed her eyes at his insult and walked over to the truck to dump her stuff down in the boxes.

"Coming through, Sandy!" Boss yelled. The girl turned around to see the entire ham-ham gang with different junk in their hands. Boss and Oxnard were heaving a huge couch and their faces were turning red as they tried to hold it up straight.

"Oxnard! You aren't even holding it right!" Boss shouted.

Oxnard gasped for air. "It's too heavy!" And with that, the couch dropped, causing Boss to leap forward and land perfectly on it. He then decided to lean back and prop up his feet, making everyone laugh.

"Good one, Boss!" Hamtaro, who had a chair in his hands, yelled. Bijou and Pashmina nodded while the others still laughed. Penelope ran out with a little book in her hands. She ran over to Maxwell, who was holding a bunch of books all stored into a box.

"Good job, Penelope!" Pashmina complimented as Penelope ran in the house to get more things. Sandy laughed and went to help Maxwell with his books as the others loaded the more onto the truck and ran back in.

"Thanks, Sandy. I'm not very physically fit," Maxwell muttered as Sandy took the entire box and heaved it onto the truck. A book fell out and landed hard onto to the sidewalk beside Maxwell's feet. The tall human ham picked it up and dusted the cover. It was Romeo and Juliet.

"Wow, Sandy! I had no idea that you had one of these rare copies of Shakespeare!" Maxwell said as his eyes widened in delight. Sandy strolled over next to him and smiled as she read the title.

"Like, I never knew that I had this book," Sandy commented, scratching the back of her head. Maxwell smiled as he read the first page.

"Still, if it's in this condition…" Maxwell said before drifting off. Sandy could see his lips curl into a smile as he closed the book and looked into her eyes. Sandy could only gape at such eyes. They were the perfect shade of casual brown, shining in the sun, sparkling just for her. Sandy couldn't help but have her mouth hang open as Maxwell's eyes kept staring warmly into her own. Maxwell became worried at Sandy's quietness and his smile soon transformed to a straight line. It was as if Sandy was under a spell. He saw that her emerald-colored eyes were set at a blank stare into his own. He blinked.

Sandy squeezed her eyes tight, mortified that she had just stared at him for the last twenty seconds. She had to say something. It was way too awkward.

"Do you want to keep it?" Sandy asked as she pointed to the book.

"If you don't mind," Maxwell said politely.

"Of course I don't. You can give it to your mom's library or sell it at your dad's bookstore," Sandy suggested. Maxwell shook his head violently.

"Sorry. I want to save this book. Especially because it's so special," Maxwell said.

Sandy nodded and replied, "Yeah, I guess that book is really old or totally cool in some way."

Maxwell chuckled and leaned in towards Sandy's face, beaming.

"No. It's special because it was from you."

Then he went off to talk to the truck driver. Sandy stayed in the same place and blushed furiously. Her eyes softened as she cherished the moment. Her feet were glued in place.

"Sis! We need your help!" Stan yelled from inside. Sandy hesitantly walked to her house, forgetting all of her troubles.

"There! I think that we're all done!" Hamtaro said as he wiped his hands onto his jeans. Dexter grimaced.

"Do you ever think that you should wash them instead go wiping them everywhere?" he said in horror as he gagged. Hamtaro just shrugged while Howdy slapped Dexter on the back.

"Ah, don't mind Dexter fer stickin' up fer manners. It's just cuz he's a stuck-up!" Howdy cackled. He raised his hands in the air for applause. As usual, he got none. "Awwwwwww," Howdy whined.

"I think that's all. Is there anything you two want me to fix?" Panda asked the Torahamu twins. Stan and Sandy shook their heads while Bijou said, "Vell, I say zat ve should 'ave a party to zelebrate cleaning up. Who vould like to?" Hamtaro immediately jumped forward and raised his hand wildly in the air.

"I do! I want to have a party!" the multi-colored haired human ham cheered. Oxnard timidly nodded as did everyone else. Bijou couldn't help but think, 'Oh, 'Amtaro. I wish zhat you could know vhat I am zinking right now…

"No way. Put everything back." Every single ham slowly turned around to see a familiar tall man with dark brown hair and navy blue eyes. He wore not only a baseball cap, but an unreadable grin. Stan and Sandy gasped.

"You," Stan hissed.

"Why are you even here?" Sandy growled angrily through gritted teeth.

The man held up his hands and said, "I'm here to take care of my children. Now put everything back." No one moved. Hamtaro walked into the front and asked, "Who are you?"

The man's grin widened and he said, "I'm Stan and Sandy's father."

Stan held a fist up to his face, threateningly. "I swear, if you come near us, I'll give you a thousand bruises and broken bones! I'll break your face to make you even uglier… If that's even possible!"

The step-father hesitated as he walked over and said sincerely, "Whoa. Hey now. I'm not going to hurt any of you. I know that you two don't trust me and all… But I wanted to make it up to you." He held out a cracked trophy, which looked like it was glued together. Sandy gasped as he handed it to she and Stan.

"Um… Thanks," Sandy said, looking at it quizzically. Her father laughed and said, "It's your doubles tennis trophy for nationals. You and Stan entered in about… second grade?" Stan and Sandy's eyes widened in shock and glee. They looked at their father to see that he wasn't joking. In fact, his navy eyes were… happy. Stan raised one eyebrow in suspicion, but let it down once his father started to unpack all of the things from the house. He smiled as he handed each twin a box and gently pushed them inside.

On the way, Stan whispered to Sandy, "You don't think that he has a gun or a knife behind his back, do you?" Sandy gasped at the thought, but quickly shook her head.

"He looked pretty innocent to me." Stan nodded and began to unpack.

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The ham-hams decided to have a party anyway. They all brought something to the party and set it up at the usual table. Sandy missed this. She sometimes couldn't be at the Clubhouse because of her sport duties. She smiled as she remembered the time that the ham-hams decided to make a newspaper called the Ham-Ham Times. Maxwell had saved all the hams from this waterfall when the they were stuck on an island. She giggled at how Maxwell had freaked out.

FLASHBACK:

"Maxwell! You're always the one with good ideas when we're in trouble!" Sandy begged. Everyone closed in towards the ham.

"Your ideas are our only chance Maxwell!" Pashmina yelled in desperation as everyone else mimicked her face.

"Ookyoo, ookyoo!" Penelope squealed.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" Maxwell said.

"C'mon, we need your help!"

"Think of something, Maxwell!"

"We need you, Maxwell!" Everyone started to yell at Maxwell, putting the bookworm under a lot pressure. His eyes bulged with fright while his mouth was twitching, feeling the strain of the situation until…

"I CAN'T THINK!!!"

Everyone fell down on their backs at this strange statement made by Maxwell and he began to circle around them.

"I'm just like you, an ordinary human ham. You guys can't rely on me all the time! But instead of trying to help yourselves, you guys act thick as logs and leave everything to me!" Maxwell scolded, panting.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sandy set the drinks down and got a good view of the table. Pashmina walked over and smiled, cradling Penelope.

"So…" she started as she wore a mischievous grin.

"So?" Sandy asked. Pashmina giggled.

"So how is it going? With you and Maxwell, I mean." Pashmina eagerly asked.

Sandy rolled her eyes and said, "I don't see why you get like, so into this. I mean, you don't even have a boyfriend yet. You won't even get into a crush." Pashmina set Penelope down and she went to the other side of the Clubhouse to play with Bijou.

"I'm way too young for that kind of stuff. I just want to know how you are going with you-know-who," Pashmina said simply.

"Which you-know-who?"

Sandy and Pashmina turned to see Maxwell, as tall as ever. He smiled furtively at them, continuing to set the table and asked with a glint of curiosity in his eye, "Who are you two talking about?"

Pashmina opened her mouth to speak, but Sandy clasped a hand over it.

"Uh, nothing, Max. It's just Pashmina in her own little dream world, ya know. Right, Pashmina?" Sandy gave her friend a threatening to make Pashmina say what she wanted her to say. Pashmina nodded and pulled Sandy's hand away, gasping for breath.

"Gosh, Sandy. You're harsh, especially to someone who is oh so hot," Stan called over. Sandy stuck her tongue out at her twin and Bijou walked over, holding Penelope's hand.

"Bonjour, everyone!" Bijou exclaimed.

"Ookwee!" Penelope said happily.

Maxwell smiled as he walked away saying, "I'll see you girls later!" He walked over to Boss who was decorating with Hamtaro. Pashmina sighed in disappointment and turned to Bijou.

"So, how are you and Hamtaro going? I'm not having any fun with Sandy's love life."

"Hey!" Sandy hollared. Pashmina just shrugged and smiled at Bijou for answer.

"Uh, I don't know. 'E still acts like vee are just friends," Bijou pouted. Pashmina went to comfort her and Sandy just rolled her eyes.

"Sandy, how could you be so heartless!?" Pashmina scolded.

"I just like, am kind of tired of this whole love thing. I mean, I've liked Maxwell for over…um… four years, I think. And he still totally likes me just as a friend!" Sandy complained. Bijou and Pashmina gasped.

"You're not zaying zat you're going to geeve up, are you?" Bijou questioned with wide eyes. Sandy shrugged and replied,

"Like, it's getting old, Bij. He'd never like me in that way."

Everything was quiet for a moment. Bijou and Pashmina may have had the same stunned expression on their faces, but Sandy felt the most hurt. She couldn't believe that she was actually saying this. But then again, what could she do? Maxwell was just as clueless as Hamtaro when it came to love. The painfully lonely feeling she'd get came back as much as ever before.

"Okay! I think we're done!" Boss exclaimed as he clapped

his hands. Cappy copied and Boss rolled his eyes.

"Cappy, can you not copy me for once?" Boss asked the younger kid. Cappy had been doing this for years, trying to be more and more like his hero.

"Are you kidding me? I need to copy you if I want to be tough like you, Boss!" Cappy explained as he crossed his arms just as Boss had. Boss sighed while Hamtaro took over as usual when Boss distracted. But then again, when was he not distracted?

"Okay, people! It's party time!" he yelled as he stood up on his green chair. The ham-hams cheered when Stan started the music. As usual at a party at the clubhouse, everyone would run onto the dance floor while Stan would DJ. He wore his dark sunglasses over his eyes and smiled his usual bright smile, trying to get a chance to dance with Pashmina and Bijou whenever they weren't with Hamtaro, Boss, Dexter, or Howdy. Every ham would have a great time and normally forget about all their troubles. Well, except for Sandy this time. She had too many things bothering her. Her unrequited love for Maxwell. Her mother's death. Her week's worth of detention from Spat… It was all too terrible for her. Sandy ran out of the clubhouse while everyone else was focused on their dancing and merrymaking. Sandy could feel the crisp air whip past her cheeks and tangle up her hair. She ran to her spot near the lake and fell lightly down into the soft, damp grass. Looking into the lake, Sandy could see her reflection, painting her face into the ripples as the water churned and swirled around. Sighing, she picked at the grass and kicked off her red sneakers, deciding to dip her feet into the cool water. She found it was very chilly, but didn't care. It had always been one of the very best ways that could get Sandy relaxed when she was stressed, angry, or sad. It made her think of happy things. Good things. She smiled when she thought of the gym that their family owned. Her step-father would take over, so he said. Her mother used to run the gym until-

Sandy shook her head. She couldn't think about that. Not anymore. It was hard because that same thought crossed her mind every minute of every day, haunting her, but she couldn't let it phase her. She tried to ignore and move on, but it just would cling to her heart. Her mother was in a happier place now, she knew it. It was much better than this hellish world. _Anything would be better than this_, Sandy thought as she tossed a small rock across the water, watching it skip across and finally sink. The stone was kind of like Sandy. It would be sped up at some times, then sink when it was time. Then, it would be washed ashore and start all over again. It would be a never ending cycle of pain and torture. She wrapped her arms around her legs and looked deeply at the other side of the lake. The mountains that Sandy was viewing sparkled in the sunlight as if they were dancing to cheer her up. Her eyes became so lost in the show, that she didn't see who was in the trees behind her.

Maxwell peered at Sandy behind some bushes and leaves. He couldn't understand why Sandy was out here and not at the party. Usually, she would be the one who'd be doing all these advanced dance moves to impress the others and would be very successful. The bookworm had grown so bored at the party without Sandy to dance with. He had followed her here. He thought that Sandy was beautiful in the setting sun's light as the wind rushed through her ponytail with her pink feet in the water with the leaves catching into her hair once in a while, making him chuckle. He smiled to himself. Maxwell had always considered Sandy as a friend, but he wasn't so sure anymore, having seen her like this. Now he could feel his stomach tighten and his legs got more and more wobbly with every step he took towards Sandy. Maybe… Just maybe…

The boy shook his head violently and mentally slapped himself. _No way. She would never fall for a guy like me. I'm a student, she's an athlete. Snap out of it, Maxwell! C'mon, just leave_, he furiously thought. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just wanted to look at Sandy for the rest of the day. He couldn't believe that he would just stand there, watching this honey blonde girl sitting at the lake, for that long of a time, but he found it doable somehow. _Why do I feel like this? I've never felt like this about her or any other girl, he thought. What if I'm… I've read about… No, wait! I can't fall in love with her!_ Sandy could hear the swish of the wind wave throughout the trees and then the sound of the crickets' song. It was as if they were giving her a huge chorus full of music just for her. She went back to thinking about her step-father. She gagged at the thought. He had slapped her and beat her and Stan so many times, how could she forgive him? She didn't want to live with him, especially since he would never be there for her like what a good parent would actually do. She yanked out a piece of grass from the ground and threw it at the lake, but even as silly as it was, it made her feel better. She forgot all about her step-father taking over the gym and having to see him everyday.

Maxwell now knew why Sandy escaped to here. It was beautiful, of course, with the waves of the deep blue lake that washed ashore to your feet and the soft breeze which toiled about in the woods, but there was this calmness in the air that Maxell knew he could never experience from reading a nature book or that he could even begin to try to understand. Finally, he knew what people meant by "a true wonderful experience that you could never find anywhere else". He put his head out further to see Sandy a little better, but that was a fatal mistake. He tripped on a log that was right near his foot and fell hard on his elbow.

Sandy heard a huge crack that interrupted the silence. She jumped and whipped around to see Maxwell on the ground, clutching his elbow and moaning in pain. She rushed over to him and he looked up at her in terror. He sat up quickly, but he knew it, it was all over for him. He shut his eyes, waiting for the demanding questions of why he was here or what he was doing to start.

"Maxwell? Are you okay?" Sandy asked. Maxwell opened his eyes, surprised at the unsuspected question.

"Uh, I'm all right, Sandy. It's just my arm, is all," Maxwell muttered as he tried to get up. As soon as he moved his arm, he yelped in pain and Sandy wasted no time in helping him up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, a flash of fear in her eyes. Maxwell examined his elbow, seeing a huge, pink knot and some blood oozing out. He looked at it in horror and Sandy's expression copied the one on his white face.

"Based on the amount of medical books that I've read, it looks like its broken," Maxwell said as he bit his lip in pain.

Sandy gasped and quickly said, "Let's go back to the Clubhouse! Hurry!"

She grabbed Maxwell's good arm and the two ran to the Clubhouse. Sandy was beyond worried. She had completely forgot the real question that she had for Maxwell. Maxwell couldn't help but smile despite the tears that might have come out. _She cared for me_, he thought warmly and in a daze as they entered the Clubhouse.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes, well thank you for taking Mr. Noppo to the hospital, um…"

The doctor checked over his clipboard and said, "Ms. Torahamu."

Maxwell soon jumped down off of the examination bed and scurried over to the ham-hams, but his mother beat everyone to it and gave him a huge bear hug, making sure to be careful not to hurt his arm that was now covered in a blue cast.

"Oh, Maxy! I was so worried! Are you hurt? What did she do to you?" the woman said frantically, tears in her eyes. Maxwell broke free and blushed at his pet name.

"I'm fine, mom. Of course I was hurt, I had a broken arm. And Sandy didn't do anything," Maxwell murmured. His mother rolled her eyes while Maxwell walked over to his friends. Sandy was still weepy.

"Oh, I thought that you were going to be in there, like, forever!" she yelled, running up and hugging him. Truthfully, Maxwell thought that he was getting too much attention for this. It was only a broken arm, it wasn't like he was going to die or anything.

"I'm fine Sandy," Maxwell said softly, blushing. Sandy was still crying and Stan slapped his forehead saying, "Sis, give Maxwell some air when your not hugging or kissing him."

Sandy swiftly broke away and glared at Stan while everyone else laughed. Even Maxwell could manage a chuckle while the red creeping upon his and Sandy's noses went unnoticed.

"Stan, be easy. You alright, Sandy?" the twins' step-father asked. He had been very nice lately. Stan and Sandy still had their suspicions, but because their father hadn't even drunken a beer all day, it showed that he was trying to change to some extent. It was a completely new breakthrough for him and his children.

Sandy nodded and Stan sighed. Maxwell smiled and said, "Thanks, hams."

Hamtaro happily nodded and replied, "We'll do anything! Even if it means that Boss had to carry you seven miles to get here without a car!"

Boss rubbed his back and said, "Ugh. Maxwell, you should really lay off the chips."

Maxwell smiled and showed the others his cast. It was placed carefully in a sling and the boy proudly grinned as he showed the ham-hams. It was his very first cast. He'd been fortunate enough to have never have needed one before. And the fact that he never did anything physical, which made it rare for him to receive an injury, let alone one like this, contributed to this "luck " too.

"Here. You guys can sign it," he said as he held out a silver Sharpie.

Hamtaro rushed over and scribbled his name first. He waved the Sharpie all over Maxwell's cast causing him to exclaim, "Hamtaro! You can't hog up all of the space!"

Hamtaro peered up at Maxwell like he was crazy and said with a confused look on his innocent face, "But, you need to see it, right?"

Everyone groaned except Bijou who was laughing.

" 'Amtaro! Vee 'ave to zign eet too, non?" Bijou giggled.

"I don't think that it's very funny," Dexter said as Howdy nodded.

"Oh…" Hamtaro said in embarrassment as everyone else scribbled their names on Maxwell's cast around his literal John Hancock.

When Sandy finally got her turn, she held the Sharpie in her hands as though it was gold. Her eye's sparkled in delight to get to sign his cast. She carefully and cautiously drew a tiny heart that Maxwell didn't notice by her name, making sure it was flawless. Her cheeks turned a deep red as she did so. She thought that it would be kind of cute of her to give him a hint of how she really felt. _But, I gave up on this, didn't I?_ she thought as she handed the permanent marker to Stan.

"Okay everyone, we have to go," Maxwell's dad announced. His wife nodded happily and led Maxwell to the car.

"I know that you were lying," his mother hissed once they were in the car and she'd closed the door.

Maxwell choked and said, "Lying about what? I didn't do anything wrong. It was just an accident."

As usual, Maxwell's father remained silent in fights like this. Despite his owning the bookstore, which was called "Best of Books", he was quieter than his wife, the librarian, whose section was right next door in the same building. But then again, Maxwell's mother was the one prowling around the library to make sure that there was order. Maxwell would usually be in the bookstore, helping the customers to get their books and stock the shelves. He didn't really favor going to his mother's half of the building and had good reason.

"I didn't mean that. What did that girl do? Did she push you?" her mother asked. Maxwell could feel his fist tighten.

"_Sandy _didn't do anything. She actually helped me get to the clubhouse," he answered as calmly as he could through gritted teeth.

His mother grimaced and turned around to face her son in the backseat. "I don't see why you like either of those twins. They are always getting into trouble and dragging you down with them. They get all of the detentions and suspensions and offer you to be in their little plans to hurt that poor teacher, Spat. Just think what you're turning into. You might even stop your honors classes to play with _them_!"

His mother hastily turned around to face the road. The battle was over. It was always Maxwell losing in these fights and that was the reason he was forced to do so many things. Sure, he had actually liked to read and go to honors classes, but his mother overdid it. He just wanted to be with his friends half of the time.

Finally, the silence throughout the car was interrupted with Maxwell's mother's voice once again. "You are not going to that clubhouse to see any of your friends ever again. And I don't want you to go near those twins. Their family is trouble."

Maxwell's eyes widened in shock at the cruelty of his mother's sentence for him. He had never gotten into this much trouble before and he felt this to be very unfair. He wanted to yell at her for every little thing she'd done to him just then and escape from the car to run to his friends, but that was the problem. He never had the heart to rebel against the rules. He didn't have the courage or bravery and this is where it landed him.

"B-But…" Maxwell didn't know what to say. For a first, he was just grounded from seeing his friends anymore and second… Well, Maxwell had that tightening feeling again as he thought of Sandy.

_I can't believe this. I'm such an idiot, _Maxwell thought as he racked his brain for a protest.

_Why did this happen to me?_

_Why can't I see my friends?_

_Why can't I see __her__?_

And for another first time that day, Maxwell didn't have the answer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy kicked the soccer ball out from underneath her bed. She was thinking about the dinner she just ate that her step-father had made for the twins. At first, Stan and Sandy thought that it was poisonous and that their step-father was out to kill them. Actually, it was a regular pizza that their step-father normally made. Stan and Sandy both spied on him as he worked, checking to see if he didn't splash in a liquid that had the skull and crossbones on it. That would ruin the sauce, obviously, but the twins had not seen or tasted a thing that could be fatal to them. The truth was that the pizza tasted really good. What Sandy couldn't figure out was what her step-father's fine cooking had to do with destroying them. Maybe he's trying to get me to let my guard down, she thought out of desperation. Maybe Maxwell could figure it out. Her eyes sparkled as she thought of him and she got her coat on. She ran downstairs to see her father with Stan on the couch watching ESPN.

"Sandy? Where are you going?" her step-father asked, his eyes still on the TV.

"I'm going to see Maxwell. He's probably at his house by now," Sandy replied quickly and opened the door. Then, she heard running and before she knew it, the door was closed and her step-father stood in front of her.

"No. That's a definite no," he protested. Sandy frowned, puzzled.

"Why not?" She looked up to see his navy blue eyes which ached with fear and anger. The answer was clear that he didn't want Sandy to go out.

"Because it's too dangerous!" he said. Sandy tried to brush him aside, but he wouldn't let it happen.

"Please, just listen to him, sis," Stan pleaded as he walked over to join them. Sandy narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why are you getting into this? I can handle myself!" she retorted.

Stan shook his head and said, "You don't understand." Sandy looked at the both of them and was taken aback that Stan had sided with the enemy. She shook her head and tried to make a run for it, but Stan held her back.

"No, just listen to what Dad has to say," Stan said casing Sandy to immediately stop and stare at her brother. He had just called their step-father "Dad" and he was sticking up for the person that had caused so much pain for his little sister.

"But-" Sandy was cut off as the two dragged her up to her room. They all gathered onto the bed like Sandy used to do with Stan and her mother. The honey blonde was reluctant, finally sitting lightly on the right side of the bed.

She looked over and asked, "Why can't I go?"

Her step father sighed and said, "I'm really sorry, Sandy." He was ignoring the question. Sandy became furious and wanted to leave even more.

"About what?" Her step-father looked at the floor and Stan paled.

"For every bad thing that I did to you and Stan," he explained.

Sandy couldn't believe it. She glared off and pouted.

"Listen, sis. He'll explain it. He already did for me," Stan urged. Sandy sighed and gave her step-father an expecting look.

"I always punished you the way I did because I wanted to keep you safe," he muttered bashfully.

Sandy jumped off the bed and yelled at him "Keeping me safe' is to smack the shit out of me!?"

Stan's forehead creased in anger, but their step-father murmured, "I suppose that I deserved this." He glanced up at a fuming Sandy and went on.

"I punished you so that you wouldn't think of going outside and not being safe. I didn't want you to experience what I did when I was your age." Sandy's eyes softened and she tilted her head in confusion as her step-father pulled up the sleeve of his arm. Come to think of it, he always had long sleeves or a jacket on to cover what was there. Sandy lightly gasped as she saw the deep scar that spanned across his forearm. It started from his wrist all the way to his elbow. Sandy could see her twin's eyes gleam with disgust, but sympathy for him. Sandy couldn't speak. She didn't know what caused the scar or how it got there, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"You see, I got this scar when I was about thirteen. My father never cared about me and didn't pay attention to me when I was walking or outside." His brow furrowed as he continued his story.

"One day, I went out for a bike ride at night. My father didn't care. He never cared. I always looked up to him because I thought he was nice enough to let me out. I never knew what I was thinking back then. Well anyway, when I was riding around the block, there was this guy who popped out of nowhere and slashed my arm with a knife."

His face looked pained as he remembered that night. Stan was fiddling with his fingers, trying to distract himself. Sandy couldn't take her eyes off her step-father.

"Oh my gosh…" Sandy breathed out, disbelief taking over her features. Her brother took her hand. "I was lucky that I had the bike with me. If I hadn't had that, then I probably wouldn't have been able to outrun him," he said quietly. Then, a large span of silence cast itself across the room. To Sandy, it felt like the entire world.

"So, Sandy. I don't want you to go outside right now. It's getting dark. You can go tomorrow since it's a Saturday. But please not now. I don't want to lose you," her father pleaded. His navy blue eyes shone up to Sandy's emerald ones.

He held his arm out and said, "So are we clear?" Sandy just gaped at his outstretched arm. She hesitated, but extended her arm halfway out to shake hands with him. It stopped about there. Sandy didn't go on. She simply stood there like someone who was possessed and didn't shake. Her step-father's eyes narrowed.

"Don't shake if you don't mean it," he said sternly. Sandy looked over at Stan who was staring at her hand. She sighed and retracted her hand, leaving the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sandy waved goodbye to her father before sprinting out the door and jogging to her destination. Bijou and Pashmina had just asked Sandy to get the entire Twilight series for the both of them, which meant that Sandy would have to get two sets. Stan was at the clubhouse, so he wouldn't come with her. Sandy half smiled to herself. She was happy that Stan wouldn't be coming. He would just have slowed her down with his constant flirting. Of course, Sandy had a certain bookstore in mind…

Finally, Sandy lifted her head up to see the sign of the store. "Best of Books" was placed above her head. It was actually a half bookstore and a half library. Sandy put on one of those hopeful grins, hoping to see a special someone inside behind the counter. She bit her lip as she walked in and looked over the counter causing her to squeal silently in excitement.

Behind the counter was a familiar human ham whose brown eyes were fixed upon the computer screen in the bookstore half of the store. His arm was in a blue cast and Sandy held her breath, hoping that he didn't see her heart that she drew just for him yesterday by her name when she was signing. She took a deep breath that seared her lungs and throat and walked over to him.

"Hey, Maxwell!" Sandy greeted, trying to remain the Sandy that Maxwell always knew. Maxwell looked away from the screen and gave a horrified look at Sandy. Sandy turned her head to the side as Maxwell quickly dragged her behind the counter with him and sat her down on the floor. He crouched down so he could see her eye to eye and with his voice hoarse, he whispered, "What are you doing here?"

Sandy gulped, hoping that Maxwell wasn't mad at her in any way. "I came here to get some books for Bijou and Pashmina and I thought-"

Maxwell covered her mouth and popped over the counter as his mother approached. He put his index finger to his lips for Sandy to remain quiet and she nodded her head, stilling oblivious to the fact that she would be beaten up if she was found here.

"Hey, Mom," Maxwell lamely greeted. He looked up to see that his mother wasn't mad or happy like she was usually.

"Maxwell. I'm really sorry," she began. She stared at Maxwell for a moment and Maxwell looked at her straight in the eye. She sighed as she looked up to her son who was almost a foot taller than her.

"I'm saying that you can most of your friends," she said. Maxwell raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Most?"

His mother nodded her head, making her black hair bounce and said, "All of those ham-hams or whatever you call them except that Torahamu twin girl. The others didn't do anything to you and I know that."

The shock hit Maxwell and Sandy who was crouching down and stung their hearts. Maxwell sneaked a glance at Sandy to see that she was as pale as he was.

_It isn't fair._

_Life isn't fair._

_Well, life should have some mercy at one point._

_Why would it? What's the point of living then?_

_Point of living? Your mom._

_You mean YOUR mom. She's both our moms._

_Don't talk about her._

_You need to talk about it._

_I already talked about it at the funeral and I really don't need a second speech._

_That's the problem! You don't see what you really should be doing. You are so dang lazy all the fu-_

_Shut up._

_Just saying._

_Shut up._

_You really need to take a chill pill. _

"Shut up," Sandy whispered quietly. This was one of the typical battles in her mind that tugged on Sandy's brain with two different debating sides. Usually, she would have it everyday about something stupid like what to get for lunch, but for Sandy, she was about to break down into tears just thinking about her mother. Everyday at school, she would ask to go to the bathroom and, secretly, cry her heart out in one of the stalls just thinking about her mother's name. No one knew of course, even Stan, because Sandy didn't want to the school's pupils to think she was soft instead of the tough tomboy she was.

"W-Why?" Maxwell choked.

His mother said without symphony, "She's trouble, Maxwell. That other one is okay, but that girl is the reason why you broke your arm. I'm just looking out for you, sweetie. You need to be the good boy you are and keep up with your grades. Obviously, you did much better last year than this year, one of the main reasons was from hanging out the twin girl this year instead of the twin boy. I can't understand why, but I think the boy is better than the girl."

With that, she turned her heel and headed for the other half of the building, leaving Maxwell choking on his own spit. He stayed there for a long time and finally realized that Sandy was squished as her knees curled against her body the entire time. He beckoned for Sandy to get up, seeing that the coast was clear.

"W-What was that about, Max?" Sandy timidly asked. Maxwell looked away, blushing that he was called by his nickname, but now wasn't the time. He looked down and replied quietly, "I'm so sorry, Sandy. My mother doesn't really see the light in you."

This wasn't a surprise to Sandy. She had seen it coming and it was definitely true. She smiled as Maxwell wearily sighed. "Its totally okay! At least you can see the others, right? Even my bro, huh? Max?"

Maxwell couldn't help but smile, but it wasn't meant to last. Maxwell's mother came back, rushing over to the counter. Sandy gasped and tried to get back down, but Maxwell stopped her. The brunette quickly jammed a baseball cap on her head and pretended like nothing happened. Once his mother came over, she frowned in disapproval.

"Who is this?" she snarled. Maxwell replied without looking at her, "Stan. He just wanted to help me out. I believe he arrived just as you left, correct?"

Sandy sheepishly smiled and went red at being called her brother. Maxwell's mother let her guard down and picked up a book by Sandy's elbow.

"Oh, I thought you were the other one. Sorry, Stan," she quickly apologized. She held the book in her hands and rushed over to her half. Maxwell finally turned around and Sandy was tugging on the hat.

"What was that for? Are you trying to kill me?" she hissed. She couldn't help it. This hat was cutting off her circulation in her skull.

"Sorry, Sandy. I had to hide you in some way and I knew that you were be uncomfortable in an environment such as this corner," Maxwell explained.

"And this is better? Gee, you're a real scientist, Professor," Sandy ridiculed, trying to pry off the hat. Her ponytail was probably messed up by now and Sandy wanted to fix it, but Maxwell tried to make sure that the hat wouldn't come loose. "Please, Sandy. Just do it until you tell me why you came over here."

"Just watch your back and maybe I won't hit you as hard," Sandy said as she let her hands fall to her sides. Maxwell cocked a grin that Sandy thought was mocking her. Sandy stared at him in anger, but let her guard down as her eyes darted to Maxwell's cast.

She sighed and stated, "I'm here to pick up two sets of the Twilight series."

Maxwell's eyes bulged and said in awe, "Two?!"

Sandy shrugged and said, "I guess."

Maxwell laughed and joked, "Really? I didn't know that you liked reading that much."

He held up a copy of Julius Caesar and it looked as if he was about to give it to her. Sandy violently shook her head saying, "Oh, no. I'm not going to read any of that Shakespeare stuff. The way they say 'Tis art thou okay' or something is, like, way too confusing."

Maxwell once again laughed as he flipped to a random page and started to read the lines. He said them perfectly and Sandy could only gawk at that. Every word elegantly touched his tongue with every phrase. He finished the entire page quickly and he closed the book and set it down. Sandy was still staring and asked, "How the heke did you do that?"

Maxwell put his index finger to his lips and said simply, "Secret."

Sandy pretended to be angry and Maxwell just smiled. "Is there anything else you came here for?"

"Just the Twilight books." Sandy was about to say something else, but she couldn't say it now. She'd have her chance sometime else that was so much more romantic then the bookstore. Maybe a lakeside picnic that Sandy could invite Maxwell to. Or even a trip to a zoo that could have the two in front of two tigers… No, how about doves… But when would a zoo have doves? Anyway, the two doves would be passionately cheek rubbing each other and Sandy would finally tell Maxwell her feelings. But, Sandy had always loved the thought of going into a hot air balloon and-

"Just the Twilight series?" Maxwell chuckled.

Sandy glared and said, "What were you expecting?"

Maxwell grinned and looked away, trying not to laugh and Sandy elbowed him in the ribs and said sarcastically, "Like, you're starting to sound like Stan."

Maxwell turned back to Sandy and pleaded, "I beg of you. Help me lift this curse of Stan's intelligence."

Sandy giggled to see Maxwell's kidding expression as he never did this around _anyone_ and stuck her tongue out.

"Where are the books?" Sandy asked again. Instead of answering, Maxwell got two of each book from the shelf under the counter and handed each one to Sandy. They started to pile on Sandy's hands and soon enough, she couldn't see anything but the black on the books.

"Those are paperbacks. Would you like hardcover instead?" Maxwell asked from behind the books. Sandy squeaked, "No, I'll take the paperback." She knew that the hardcover would be a lot heavier and Maxwell couldn't help but laugh as he helped Sandy put the counter.

"I think I just cracked my neck," Sandy complained as she rubbed her neck. Maxwell shot a worried look and Sandy laughed. "Kidding, Maxwell. I'm totally kidding."

Maxwell shook his head lightly and started to scan the barcode of each book. Once he had done so, he stored them neatly in plastic bags that said "Best of Books thanks you!" and handed them to Sandy. It looked like it was very difficult for the fact that Maxwell could only use one arm because of his broken one. Then, Sandy hatched an idea.

"Like, how about I stay here the rest of the day? That cast looks like its totally bothering you," Sandy suggested. Maxwell smiled and replied, "I would love that. Can you stock these books? Just make sure that you-know-who doesn't show up in the aisle."

He pointed to a dozen or so books and Sandy playfully saluted. She took each book one by one and balanced them on her shoulder.

"Could you please stock them in the kids section? A and B, ok?" Maxwell asked as he went back to his computer.

"Who know that you such a computer geek. Are you sure that you're not playing Pac Man on that all day?" Sandy snorted. Maxwell covered the screen and quickly said, "No."

Sandy smirked as she walked over to the children's section with the pile of books weighing onto her shoulders. She blushed for no reason and, at the same time, couldn't help but giggle at the humorous side of Maxwell. Usually, he would never act that way, especially at school. _Maybe he's just trying to be professional, _Sandy thought as she forced the books into the shelves. She grinned at the alternate for her little "conclusion". Then, once she was done, she started to turn back around, but stopped dead. In front of her was Hamtaro, Bijou, Boss, and… _Stan._

"Oh, no," Sandy mouthed as she ran over to her twin and the others.

"Like, what are you guys doing here?" Sandy whispered. Hamtaro waved, trying to be friendly as he replied, "We came here to pick up a book for me to read! I was thinking of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What do you think, hams?"

Stan and Boss just stared blankly at Hamtaro and they both muttered, "Oh, please."

Bijou giggled at the silliness and turned to Sandy. "Aren't you going to say 'i (Hi)? And vy do you 'ave a hat on your 'ead?" she questioned in her usual, delicate French accent.

"I'm trying to be like Stan," Sandy mumbled. Stan immediately laughed and Boss asked, "Why? Out of all people?"

Stan punched in the shoulder and couldn't help but break down into hoots of hilarity Sandy sighed as Stan held onto Hamtaro for support as tears gushed from his eyes and the sound of him laughing. "Like, Maxwell's mother totally doesn't like me so I have to be like Stan. That's why I'm telling you to go!"

"C'mon, sis. I was just here for a while. Maxwell's mom won't even find the two of us," Stan insisted. Sandy shook her head and protested, "No! You, like, don't understand! I swear, she comes by like, every _minute_. Its so freaky and she'll know the difference between us!"

Stan eye's darted to Sandy's upper part of her t-shirt and said, "I think I can name a few big ones."

_SLAP._

Sandy's face was a beet red as Stan rubbed his now pink cheek. His twin must have hit him hard enough for Hamtaro, Bijou, and Boss to see finger shapes imprinted in Stan's face. "Geez, who knew that you could hit so hard."

"Shut up! Just please, Stan! I'm begging you as a sister to just find the book and leave!" Sandy pleaded. Stan was still trying to nurture his sore cheek, but he smiled and bargained, "You cook dinner tonight."

Sandy scowled and replied, "Fine! Now, Hamtaro, just please pick your book!"

All eyes turned to the multi-colored haired friend and he whimpered, "I still don't know what to pick out!"

"Well, you better hurry. Maxwell's mom is coming this way," Boss pointed out. Sure enough, there was Maxwell's mother striding straight towards the five hams. Sandy's eyes widened and she ran to the counter over by Maxwell. Stan had to mutter under his breath, "Coward."

As Maxwell's mother approached, her eyes narrowed at Stan. The hams could feel a sense of danger and trouble lurking around at that second.

"Whoa, she is scary, hams," Hamtaro whispered to the others.

Boss nodded and replied, "I can believe that she's Maxwell's mom, but she looks way more stuck up than Maxwell. And that's saying something."

"Dat is so mean! I am sure dat she is great!" Bijou promised. The three hams didn't agree, but scooted closer together as she approached.

"Stan! You should be at the counter with Maxwell and not to chitter chatter with your friends!" Maxwell's mother snapped and grabbed Stan's wrist, dragging him towards the counter. Stan mouthed for the others to help and the three just looked at each other, watching Stan being swept away. Bijou and Boss took off after them, leaving Hamtaro behind as he yelled at them, "Does this mean that I'm not going to get Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"

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"I'm serious! She's coming right now with Stan!" Sandy said. Maxwell placed his fingers to his forehead and rubbed his temple. He was pale white, trying not to believe Sandy's story about meeting Stan in the store, especially when his mother was on patrol. He never wanted to cause this much trouble and if this continued, he would never be able to see his friends again. It was just like one of those crappy spy movies involving twins that Panda had dragged him to the theater because of some 'Dictionary of Life' or something.

"Please tell me that you believe me," Sandy whined. Maxwell released the pressure he put on his head and sighed. "Of course I do. The problem is how we're going to get you out of here. You can't exactly run for it linking to the fact that she should be here in about five seconds."

Sandy gave him a strange look, but it was interrupted when Maxwell's mother came running over with the real Stan by her side. Maxwell grabbed Sandy's head and pushed her down out of sight, trying not to hurt her. He then got out a pen and acted like nothing had happened.

"Oh, Stan. I see that you've stocked the books. Thanks," Maxwell said to a confused Stan.

"Dude, I seriously don't-" Stan started, but Maxwell flashed a look that most likely meant to Stan that he should just go with Maxwell's idea.

"Well, I need one of you to work with me at the library," she said. Stan pointed at Maxwell and Maxwell pointed at Stan, which made Stan point at Maxwell.

She looked at the both of them and cheered, "Oh, whatever! I can take the both of you. I'll take over here and Maxwell, you and your friend can go over to the library. I'm sure its much more quieter over there than here."

Maxwell coughed, trying to hide his groan of disappointed and Sandy jerked from under the counter. He took a glance at Sandy, seeing that she was beyond worried. He had to help her.

"Uh, you can take Stan. I'm most comfortable in this position," Maxwell said as Stan gave him a look of agony. He made a fist and gritted his teeth at the bookworm, but Maxwell had to ignore it. His mother nodded and said, "I have to get something behind the counter though."

Sandy lightly gasped and Maxwell rubbed the back of his head. "That would not be the best idea. I can get it for you. Besides, you'll be in for a real shocker behind there."

"Oh, hush, Maxwell. I just need my bag," his mother protested. Maxwell's uninjured hand gripped the table when Hamtaro ran up.

"Hey, guys! I've been looking all over for you! Where's Sandy?" Hamtaro said. Bijou gasped while Boss made a fist and Maxwell covered his face as Sandy and Stan curled their hands into fists. Maxwell's mother, on the other hand, burst into a tantrum.

"What?! Isn't that the Torahamu girl? Where is she?" Maxwell's mother hissed. Maxwell shook his head and Boss lied, "It's another Sandy."

"But I thought-" Hamtaro started, but Boss slapped his hand over Hamtaro's mouth.

"Let me get behind the counter." Maxwell's mother tried to make her way around him, but Maxwell blocked the way and motioned Sandy to get away.

"Maxwell! What is wrong with you!"

"I'm just, um… cleaning the floor! So you'll have to wait about five more seconds for it to dry," Maxwell said, making sure that Sandy was out. She was crawling on all fours, trying not to be noticed. Maxwell's mother looked around him and yelled, "Who is that!?"

Before Maxwell could answer, Stan said, "A customer?"

"Crawling on the floor? That's really dirty. I'm sure its covered in bacteria by now," she concluded.

"AGH!" Sandy shrieked and jumped up, wiping her hands on her jeans. She lowered her head to hide her face and started to walk away.

"Stop! Who are you?" Maxwell's mother yelled as she wove around Maxwell.

Sandy slowly turned around and stated, "I'm just an ordinary customer." She could have sworn that she was Cappy right now, with her hands jamming her cap down.

Maxwell's mother frowned as she said, "Let me see your face."

Everything was still and Stan yelled, "I'm sure it's just like mine. I mean, we are identical-"

Boss tackled Stan to the ground and clapped his hand over his mouth. He made a smile for them to continue.

"Take off the hat at least," Maxwell's mother demanded. She made an attempt to yank it off, but Sandy covered her head.

"Uh, I really don't like my hair right now. It's, uh, messed up," Sandy muttered. Then, Alice and Sydney walked in, laughing and talking to each other. They noticed Sandy and Alice waved while Sydney called, "Hey, Sandy!"

Maxwell's mother slowly turned around towards Sandy who backed up into a bookshelf. She was so scared that she tipped the shelf over and it went on and on like dominos for the entire store's book shelves. The others could only watch as each book thudded to the ground and the shelves rattled the floor like an earthquake. Everyone's mouth fell open at the scattering customers trying not to get crushed. Once the dust had lifted Sandy pointed her thumb at the wreckage and said quietly, "I did not mean to do that."

Maxwell's mother fumed and took jagged steps toward Sandy. "Who the hell are you and why the hell did you do this to my store!?"

Sandy opened her mouth to answer when Alice and Sydney ran over and plucked the hat off of Sandy's head. Alice waved the hat in the air as Sydney cheered, "See? Were we right or were we right?"

Hamtaro pointed and yelled, "Yeah! I guessed that too! It is Sandy!"

Sandy's hand curled into a fist at the three human hams, but Maxwell's mother beat her at the anger boiling in the both of them. She got so close to Sandy's face that she could smell the milk she had for breakfast.

"Get out," she hissed.

Sandy didn't need to ask questions. She darted out of the store way faster than the others and quickly disappeared out of sight, not bothering to look back.

Maxwell's mother whipped around to face the others and yelled, "All of you! I want all of you out! And never come near Maxwell again!"

As fast as Sandy, they all sprinted out as fast as their legs could. Maxwell's mother turned to face her son to see that he had his head on the counter with his hands over his head. He knew what was coming.

"I don't want you to ever leave the house without supervision ever again!!!" his mother spat at him.

Yup, he knew that was coming.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy could see her father pacing the floor as a vein bulged from his head and his hands behind his back, trying to relax himself from his heart exploding. Sandy could only sit on the couch with Stan as he kept mumbling, stopping to say something, but then shaking his head as if he thought it was the wrong thing to say.

"Dad?" Stan asked. Their father didn't even bother to look at them.

"I can't believe that family!" he yelled as he slammed his fist on the wall. Sandy felt herself fall deeper into the couch and Stan wincing at the sound.

"How can they do that to us?! We did not do anything to them!" he shouted in anger. Stan and Sandy looked at each other in fright.

"That little bookworm's mother just makes me want to…" He shook his head and started to pace again.

"Uh, Dad?" Sandy asked.

"What?!"

"I really don't think that it's their fault," Sandy muttered. Stan looked down as Sandy explained.

"I really think that it was my fault. I was the one who bothered them," Sandy said. Silence.

"Everything's _my _fault," Sandy cried. She could feel the tears emerge as little drops and stick to her eyelashes. Stan ran his fingers through his hair and muttered, "We just had to be twins, huh? Twins always are the trouble."

"Don't you two say that! Twins are never trouble," their father said, trying to comfort them. Sandy turned on the TV to see "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody". The two twins were crawling inside a vent and found themselves being chased by the police. (I don't know if this actually happened. And I don't own "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody".)

Stan and Sandy looked blankly at their father and he sat down protesting, "That's just Hollywood. It's not real."

"Oh, yeah?" Sandy asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Remember the time that we blasted up that kitchen when we were in second grade?" Stan asked. Their father's lip quivered and said, "Of course, but that was just an accident."

"An accident? We were, like, trying to blow something up so the bread would be crispier!" Sandy said.

"And remember the time when-" Stan was interrupted when their father said, "But you two make those things up with your goodness! Look at you, you're a team! You look out for each other, you know what to do. I don't think that twins are that bad."

Stan and Sandy looked at one another. They _were_ a team. Ever since they were little, they would pretend to be spies or something like that and go on secret missions… Even if that did mean to blow up the kitchen at Olive Garden and causing them to be banned from the restaurant by the head chef who's hair was lit aflame. But, Stan and Sandy thought he tasted pretty good when the stove lit up to cook the chef. (Ironic, isn't it?) Stan and Sandy smiled at that moment to know that nothing was about to stop them no matter what challenge was up ahead. As long as they had each other, everything would be ok, even if they lost everything. It was weird because they both had some kind of sixth sense when one another were in trouble. Usually, that meant Stan was the one who was in trouble and Sandy had to come, but no matter what, they helped each other out even if did mean to humiliate themselves in front of crowd. Sandy couldn't help but smile when Stan decided to show off his diving skills to some girl and she had to tackle him in front of a crowd to make sure that the police wouldn't come. Stan had been very angry at losing a chance at getting his girl, but soon forgave Sandy for pretty much saving his life from the ways from prison.

"Ok, now that we have that settled, I have an announcement," their father said, trying to change the subject. Stan and Sandy turned their attention towards their father who was calming down as he tried to smile.

"I know that this seems kind of selfish… But there's this father and son competition in Osaka. I really want to go because there's a huge prize of five thousand dollars to the winners," he explained. Stan popped out of the couch and yelled, "I'll do it!"

Sandy rolled her eyes and said, "What's the competition about?"

Their father smiled and said, "Its just a fitness contest that we'll be bound to win."

"I'll definitely do it!" Stan yelled again. Their father frowned as Sandy groaned, "What am I supposed to do then? Just stay at home?"

"Oh, no. I'm not going to leave you here. How about you call up one of your friends to spend the night?" he asked. Sandy brightened at the thought and that would mean that she would be able to see Bijou and Pashmina again.

"I'll call them up," Sandy volunteered. She dialed Bijou's number and there was a "Bonjour?" at the other line.

"Hey, Bij. Like, it's me, Sandy. Do you think that I can spend the night at-" Sandy clapped her hand on the phone and asked her father, "When's the competition?"

"Tomorrow," he answered. Sandy lifted her hand off the phone and said, "How about tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry, Sandy. I've already asked Pashmina over. And you know 'ow my mozer gets angry when zhere are two friends over," Bijou replied. Sandy gulped and said, "Um, ok. I'll see you later."

She hung up and Stan asked, "What is it?"

"Bijou and Pashmina can't do it," Sandy responded wearily. They both frowned and Stan suggested, "Is that all? I mean, couldn't you stay at Hamtaro's house? He has a lot of guest rooms."

Sandy nodded, a little bit shaken that he had suggested Hamtaro, but instead dialed Alice's number.

"Hey, Alice?" Sandy asked into the phone.

"Sandy? Hi! Do you have a new sports story? I absolutely worshipped the one where you were against three boys in that football game and you jumped so high that you landed in the end zone and then-" Alice started recited into the phone and Sandy blushed at her lie.

"Um, no. I called to ask if I can like, sleep over at your house," Sandy said.

"Sorry, Sandy. My mom doesn't let me have sleepovers," Alice replied. Sandy sighed and bid goodbye. Then, she dialed Sydney's number to find that she didn't answer.

"Call Hamtaro, sis," Stan said. His father nodded and Sandy finally dialed Hamtaro's number.

"Ham-ha! Hamtaro Haruna here!"

"Hey, Hamtaro. Look, its Sandy," Sandy said slowly.

"Ah! Ham-ha, Sandy! Why'd you call?" Hamtaro said in his usual friendly voice.

Sandy gulped. This was completely different than going to a sleepover with the girls. "Uh, can I stay over in a guest room at your house tomorrow? And stay there for one night?"  
Sandy waited for an answer.

"Why?"

"My dad and Stan are going to be out of the house. I need a place to stay," Sandy explained.

"Sorry, Sandy. The guys are having a big sleepover tomorrow. "

Sandy's heart fell and was about to tell the others the news when Hamtaro's voice came back on.

"But, I heard that Maxwell isn't doing anything tomorrow. Probably because he was grounded for the first time and never allowed to see us again or something. You can stay at his house, right?"

Sandy didn't answer. Instead she dropped the phone and caught it at the last second before it would hit the floor. She knew that Maxwell's mother wouldn't be too happy about her staying over for one night and two days. If she had stayed, she would barely get to talk to Maxwell. All of the questions ran through her head like where she would stay and what she would eat. She thought that a civilized human ham like Maxwell would probably dine at the finest restaurants with having the best manners possible. Sandy remembered the time that the ham-hams went to Dexter's house party. She shuddered at how bad she was there. How was she supposed to know to pass around the food and use the salad fork for the salad instead of her main course fork? Since when would people use two forks? And why did people get so worked up about manners? They didn't have the right to do that. She knew nothing about manners and it would be another disaster at Maxwell's, but what could she do?

"Heke? Sandy? You there?" Hamtaro asked through the phone. Sandy felt herself fling back to reality and replied, "Uh, I think I'll stay at Maxwell's. What's his number?"

Hamtaro laughed and said, "I'll tell him! You just go and pack. Tomorrow for the night?"

Sandy whispered a "yes" and Hamtaro hung up. She forced the phone back down and Stan asked, "So did Red say yes?"

Sandy crossed her arms and sighed, "Well, not exactly.

"What happened?" her father asked.

"I'm staying at Maxwell's."

There was an eerie silence cast upon the room. Suddenly, Stan and Sandy could hear a rattling noise shaking the room and turned to see that it was their father with his hands grasping the table. He was gripping it so hard that the fragile word almost cracked as it rattled all over.

"Yo, Dad!" Stan yelled. He didn't pay attention to his son. Instead, he calmly got up and hissed through clenched teeth, "There is no way that I'm letting _my _daughter sleep over at _his_ house. No way. Forget it, Sandy."

"But-" Sandy was cut off by his glare. She regained her courage and said, "But like, where else am I supposed to stay? At Grandpa's and Grandma's? Like, they live on the other side of Japan! This is the only way for me not to stay home."

Her father's glare softened and Stan said quietly, "She's right, you know."

He slowly nodded but jabbed his finger at Sandy's room. "Start packing."

Sandy quickly nodded and hopped up the stairs, her heart lifting at spending the night at Maxwell's. And she was determined to tell her feelings toward him that night.


	11. Chapter 11

Oh, yeah! We're almost at the end! I promise you guys two more chapters after this. Just hang in there, readers!

**This chapter is dedicated to ChargingFowardBlind for her support! This one's for you!**

Chapter 11

Sandy took a deep breath of the spring air as she opened the door of the car. It was nighttime, but Sandy didn't feel sleepy at all. She was scared of going to Maxwell's house to spend the night and then the day there, she kept pacing outside, worrying neighbors and each passerby. She made sure that her gym bag carrying all of her stuff such as clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and pajamas were there. She thought that she might as well bring a movie and wanted to surprise Maxwell with her choice. The movie was "Ghost Ship", a horror film recommended by Bijou. It was even scary to her and Sandy shook her head, thinking of what Maxwell and his family would actually think of it.

FLASHBACK:

(On the phone)

_"Oh, Sandy! You absolutely 'ave to bring a 'orror film with you!" Bijou cheered from the other line._

_"Why?" Sandy questioned, holding the phone closer to her ear._

_"You can cuddle up to Maxvell vhen there are the scary parts. Which is exactly every part in dis movie!" Bijou exclaimed. _

_"Um, Bijou. Do you really think that'll work? I mean, like, I think Maxwell would be scared. Like, he doesn't really watch scary movies, especially R rated ones. To tell you the truth, I really haven't seen this movie, and I'll totally get scared easy," Sandy said, her voice in a worried state._

_"Do not fret, Sandy! I am sure dat 'e vill comfort you because he cares about you! You showed me zee notes, non? It is so romantic, oui?" Bijou said excitingly. And she hung up._

_Even after Bijou was gone, Sandy couldn't help but mutter into the phone, "But I gave up."_

END OF FLASHBACK

She sighed and threw herself into the backseat next to her brother. He smirked at Sandy's expression, which involved her nose crinkling in fear and her lip quivering, and elbowed her in the ribs. "Hey, sis. I know Maxwell isn't going to bite.

Stop worrying and relax," Stan reassured as he leaned back.

He smiled as he leaned back into the interior of the car. Sandy weakly smiled back and turned to look at the window as her father came out of the house, cursing under his breath and become angrier and angrier. Sandy's father and Maxwell's mother didn't exactly have the friendliest conversation over whether Sandy would stay or not. Maxwell's mother completely hated the idea of Sandy staying over, but she had no choice when her only son pleaded her to let Sandy stay since it was the only way. This made Sandy feel so guilty for being the cause of all of these problems. It pained her when she saw the bookshelves crash in the bookstore when she was visiting and Maxwell with his one arm had to clean up the entire disarray. She had caused a whole lot of trouble from the start and didn't deserve any of this friendliness at all. Sandy almost had another conversation in her head when her father stepped in.

The left car door slammed as her father got in, still mumbling sentences that Sandy nor Stan could actually heed. He jabbed the keys into the keyhole and the car sprung to life as they started to move. Sandy leaned back and started to play with her bangs. It was a bad habit when she was worried or nervous. In some of her past sports events, she kept playing with her bangs in between the timeouts and plays. Stan had always made fun of her for doing this, but the truth was that Stan did it too, just not with his hair. Instead, he would twirl his fingers together, staring at them the whole time.

"Are we there yet?" Stan groaned. His father didn't answer, but instead drove into a driveway.

"Like, there's your answer, Stan," Sandy said as she smirked at Stan's pout.

Sandy looked out the window and gasped to see a beautiful two-story house that was painted a pale blue. It had a white painted porch with bench that hung from the top of the wooden ceiling. In front of the porch was a colorful garden full of colors swirling together with a dark green background and a large oak tree in the front that had tree house on one of the branches.

Sandy timidly opened the door and couldn't find herself to approach the home. It resembled so much of Maxwell's personality. Calm. Casual. Controlled. Cute…

Sandy shook her head. _I gave up, remember? Just stop, he's just a friend! Just shut your big, fat fu-_

Before Sandy could walk up, the door opened wide, but instead of Maxwell standing in the doorway, it was his mother. She hesitated as she made room for Sandy as she approached the door. She looked back halfway to see that Stan and her father had just stayed in the car and waved goodbye. Before Sandy went in, Stan called out, "Don't do anything rash to him, Sandy!"  
Sandy stuck her tongue out and ran into the house with her head facing the ground as Maxwell's mother eyed her like a hawk watching its prey.

Sandy looked around the warm room. It was entirely a white color from the ceiling to the carpet with the furniture a light mocha color. She gulped. This was the place that Sandy could easily drop something and stain the beautiful floor. Then, her mind drifted to dinner and food and Sandy curled her hand into a fist as she thought about the upcoming horror.

"Your room is upstairs," Maxwell's mother directed in a robotic tone, popping Sandy's thought bubble. She looked around for a certain someone, but he wasn't there.

"Where's Maxwell?" Sandy asked without daring to make eye contact.

"He's outside. Just go wash your hands and face after you unpack. Your room is on the opposite side of Maxwell's." She winced as if this wasn't the best arrangement. Sandy nodded and tried to smile just to be nice and charged up the stairs. The house was so… so _big. _ The hallway could fit four people side by side and there were so many rooms like the three bathrooms Sandy must have passed. As she passed a nice room that had a red cover and a red lamp, she looked on the other side to make sure that this was the right one. Sandy knew that the opposite side's room was definitely Maxwell's because there were bookshelves everywhere along with the books. Sandy gaped at how neat things were and walked in. The tomboy would have thought that there would be at least a few books on the floor or cluttered in the corner, but to her shock, there were none. There were no posters like Stan's NBA collection of the Lakers and Celtics glued to his wall. He had no radio or a type of music device except for the grand piano in the far right corner so Sandy assumed that he played the piano. The only thing she wondered was how the piano didn't fall through the floor and slam down onto the ground floor, crushing everything in its path. But, her moment of the thought was ruined by a loud barking sound that came closer and closer.

Sandy whipped around to see a little terrier barking and running straight for Sandy. Her mouth parted to an o as she climbed on top of the piano as the dog yelped at her, jumping up on its little paws, snapping and barking a thunderous and earsplitting cry each second.

"Leo!"

The dog and Sandy looked to see Maxwell in the doorway of his room with an angry look on his face. The dog ran towards Maxwell and he picked it up with his uninjured arm.

"Don't do that!" Maxwell ordered as the dog cuddled with Maxwell, obviously getting the wrong message. Sandy was still on top of the piano, shaking in fright with her knees wobbling and eye twitching. Maxwell smiled at her as he set the dog down and held out his hand. Sandy grabbed it and Maxwell helped her down. The dog stared at Sandy and a low growl came from his throat, causing Sandy to jump a little.

"Sorry, Sandy. Leo gets a little excited when visitors come. He's a real nice Yorkshire Terrier, though," Maxwell said as he pulled back his hand. Sandy started to pet Leo and the terrier looked at Sandy with big puppy eyes. She giggled and started to play with his ears.

Maxwell brought up, "I didn't see you come in. I was outside, playing with him. Did you find your room?"

Sandy nodded, not taking her eyes off of Leo. He was just so cute to Sandy who had never had a dog before. Maxwell smiled as he handed her the petite dog into Sandy's arms and he took her gym bag causing Sandy to blush a deep red. She couldn't help it… Could she really tell him her feelings towards him? Or should she just forget it? Maybe, she could make a run for it or clock Maxwell in the head, _then _make a run for it. She would have done it too if there wasn't the problem of explaining to Maxwell's mother and her own father.

Maxwell set her gym bag onto the guest bed on the opposite side and Sandy slowly walked in cradling the puppy while it was nuzzling her chin.

"Why were you in my room anyway?" Maxwell smirked and resisted laughing after Sandy started to play with Leo's paws. Sandy's head jerked up and then down as she didn't answer and, even though Maxwell didn't see it, blushed a crimson scarlet. Maxwell frowned at Sandy's unusual quietness and let the matter drop.

"I'll leave. Do you want to stay with Leo for a while?" Maxwell asked, not wanting to interrupt Sandy's playfulness and his dog's.

"Um, like, here he is," Sandy said as she held out the dog to Maxwell and he shook his head as he started for the door, putting his hand on the handle.

"Oh, and just to let you know, dinner is going to be in about five minutes," Maxwell said before closing the door and leaving. Sandy jerked up, completely unaware of the dog pawing her to play. Then, Sandy went to her bed and buried her face in her own pillow that she had brought. _I'm dead. I am so dead_, Sandy thought before she got up, almost ready to jump out the window. She looked around at the tidiness of the room, and whimpered like a stray cat. Sandy covered her face and felt like retreating to a corner. How could she have thought that she could have stayed at Maxwell's? How could she be so stupid and desperate? The stupid part, she understood, but not so much the desperate. After all, her father and Maxwell's mother hated each other all because of what Sandy really did. Then, she could hear a scratching sound on her leg and yelped in pain, hurdling into to the air. The source of the scratching was none other than Leo, who Sandy gave no mercy.

"Gosh, I was thinking! Why'd you have to scare me like that!" Sandy said to the dog. Leo just sat down on all fours, sticking his tongue out as he breathed.

"Oh, don't you stick your tongue out at me! I totally was thinking for once in my pathetic life and then you go all torturous on me!" Sandy snapped. Then, Leo got up and started to scratch the door and Sandy quickly opened it.

"That's right! You run!" Sandy yelled into the hallway as the dog departed down the stairs before slamming the door shut.

"Great, I think the dog is smarter than me. After all, I was the one who was actually talking to it," Sandy sighed before there was another knock on the door. She pulled the handle, revealing Maxwell once again.

"Dinner's ready. You want to wash your hands first?"

Sandy opened her mouth, almost saying "Why?", but to be more polite, instead she asked, "What are we having? Because if its something used with, like, a salad fork or a soupspoon, I think I'll stick to something like cereal."

Maxwell laughed more than Sandy could ever dream of. He just kept laughing and laughing, Sandy insensible of why he was laughing so hard. Usually, Maxwell never laughed, which made Sandy laugh, but in any case, Sandy had to think that Maxwell really needed to socialize now since he couldn't see his friends anymore. His humorous chortles and outbursts gave some kind of clue about it. Sandy crossed her arms, waiting for him to cease whatever was funny, but Maxwell didn't stop and, soon enough, tears started to gush out of his eyes.

"I can't breathe!" he suddenly gasped, crouching over in pain and holding his stomach, but still having hysterics about it. Sandy rolled her eyes as she remained silent. This was so unlike him and Sandy closed her eyes and started to rub her forehead, something that only Maxwell did. Soon enough, she was giggling quietly and then, just as fast, her stomach started to hurt when Sandy found herself leaning against the wall, laughing just as much as Maxwell.

"Stop it! Stop laughing! AGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Sandy whooped, trying to stop the growing pain in her stomach, but she just kept laughing. It was as if it would never end and then Maxwell fell onto the floor, slapping his hand to the ground, causing Sandy to point and- well, _laugh _about it, Maxwell copying her expression. Finally, Sandy wiped her eyes before she could start laughing again, this time with tears coming out of her eyes. She looked at Maxwell who was still smiling, but was sitting on the floor, staring at her.

"Like, what were we laughing about anyway?" Sandy asked him, rubbing the back of her head, embarrassed of the question.

Maxwell shrugged, still grinning, and replied, "I was laughing because when you brought up the salad fork thing, I remembered you at Dexter's party. Ah, ha, AGGGGGHHHHH!!!"

Then, he started falling over to the left, starting his ludicrous convulsing all over again, but Sandy remained silent, crossing her arms in frustration.

"It really isn't that funny, Maxwell," Sandy suspired, her eyes narrowing as Maxwell still was on the floor, beating his fists the ground.

He looked up at her and hooted, "Its hysterical!"

Sandy sighed and walked downstairs, although grinning at the irony of _her _acting _smart_ and_ him _acting _dumb._ Even though Maxwell didn't yet tell her, Sandy breathed a huge amount of air to smell… spaghetti. She cringed. Sandy loved spaghetti, but her eyes immediately looked down on the white carpet. Did I mention that it was really, _really _white without any kind of stain the floor and that Sandy could have thought that it was a winter wonderland if there was a Christmas tree in the corner?

"Ah! Hello, there Miss Torahamu!"

Sandy turned around to see a man who had the same kind of hair that Maxwell had, but he had green eyes. He was beaming and he showed welcome to Sandy. Sandy grinned back and shook hands with him.

"Hey there, Mr. Noppo," Sandy breathed, trying to act as polite as possible, submitting the fact that Mrs. Noppo was in the corner of the kitchen, her eyes on Sandy. The Torahamu girl could have sworn they flashed a crimson red at her for a second.

"It's very nice to have you in our humble home," Mr. Noppo said, not taking the grin on his face and Sandy nodded when Maxwell came in, rubbing his forehead, still grinning.

"Hey, there Jay Leno. You done with your night show? Wait, I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. You done with your moment?" Sandy teased at how Maxwell was laughing. Maxwell nodded at her and sat at the table, still looking a little frazzled, causing Sandy try not to laugh or else she might be the one on the floor splitting her sides instead of Maxwell. Sandy took a seat across from him and the two chairs on the end were kept for the parents. Then, Sandy remembered about the staining prediction and immediately sat up, making her way to the stairs.

"Hey! Isn't she hungry?" Mr. Noppo asked his son, Maxwell incognizant that Sandy was making her way up to her guest room. He jumped up and jogged over to her, stopping her on the fourth step up.

"Where are you going?" Maxwell asked stupidly and out of breath from laughing then running.

Sandy looked at him as if he was insane and replied, "My room?"

Maxwell shook his head and hectored, "Gosh, I had no idea you were a vampire. You know, vampires just _despise _garlic in their spaghetti and- OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

Sandy covered her mouth and giggled as Maxwell rubbed his shoulder where Sandy punched him, muttering under his breath.

"Sandy, Sandy. Try to settle your problems without violence, especially to a guy who's in a cast," Maxwell said as he wagged his finger in front of Sandy's nose, causing Sandy to act as if she was four years old when she watched him toss his finger back and forth.

"Oh, I'm like, so terrible for wanting to go up to a room," Sandy sneered, trying to sound as sarcastic as possible. Maxwell shook his head without laughing and said, "Why would you skip dinner?"

"Because I'm afraid your mother's going to poison me," Sandy joked. Maxwell shot her a look for her to act serious, which silenced the honey blonde pretty quickly. He made a motion with his hand for her to tell the truth.

"Okay, fine," Sandy murmured, hanging her head down, "I'm kind of like, _afraid, _that I'll screw up in every way so they'll be like, five hundred stains on the carpet."

Ashamed, she looked up to Maxwell with a burning nose to see that he was beaming at her, causing Sandy to blush massively.

"Sandy…" Maxwell began. "I know that you won't do anything. And even if you do manage to do something…_stolid_… I disagree that you'll get in trouble."

Then, he had done something that he never did to Sandy. He winked at her.

"I'll cover you," Maxwell assured as made his way down the stairs and into the dining room, leaving a red-faced Sandy behind who put a fist to her stomach, feeling as if she was about to fly. She quivered her lip in a happy way as she soared downstairs to join Maxwell for dinner. On the last step, however, she stopped dead in her tracks to think.

_I gave up._

_No, you didn't. You still are trying and you know it._

_I gave up._

_You still blush around him._

_I said I gave up._

_So?_

_So I gave up on him._

_You gave up on him. How could you? You gave up on the thing that gave your life meaning and purpose! He's the reason why you get out of bed everyday. He's the reason you speak and laugh. He-_

_I gave up._

_Shut up._

_I gave up._

_Don't say that!_

_I have given up._

_No! Don't you see? _

_No, don't YOU see? He doesn't like me, ok? He still thinks I'm just his friend and he's going to act like it until the day I die! He'd never like me! A stupid immature, tomboy who doesn't even know what five times five is. That's what I am. He just reads his books all day and I'd only get in the way of his passions. Maxwell is just a fantasy to me. A ghost. A vision. How could I be so blind? I'm such an idiot. I'm such a fucking idiot to think that he would ever fall for a bitch like me._

_SHUT UP! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?_

_No! I don't have to listen to this! You don't have any control of me!_

_Yes, I am! I'm the side who tells you that Maxwell loves you and you-_

_I don't love him._

_How-_

_I don't love him. I gave up._

It was over. Just that quickly. Sandy's longest and most serious conversation inside of her head ever had just ended telling her that she didn't love him. Then, Maxwell rounded the corner with a Dr. Pepper, one of Sandy's favorites. He smiled and beckoned her to the table.

"I gave up…" Sandy muttered before slowly walking towards the table.

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"Wow. Look at the stars! Do you see that one?"

Maxwell and Sandy were both on the porch in the front yard sitting together under the stars on a clear night with the sky a shade of black and a deep indigo above them. Thousands, no millions of twinkling lights shone above them, sparkling and shining a little show just for the two of them. Maxwell was trying to direct Sandy's attention to a constellation called Orion (It's the only constellation that I actually know besides the big and little dipper.), but Sandy was more focused on the big streak of white that had collected so many stars in just a little area, so it made itself look as if it was some kind of egg yolk in white cake batter. It stood out so vibrantly to Sandy that she could only gawk at the sky, looking like a complete idiot with her mouthing hanging wide open and her eyes bulging with delight and curiosity. It wasn't like she actually liked learning, but this was way different that squinting down at the words in the textbook on how Galileo used a telescope or something. It was stupid to Sandy because the book said that he went blind from looking at the sun with a telescope. Idiot. Even if he was one of the most famous astronomers and we would be no where close to what we actually know much about the heavens above without him and his theories, he made one quick slip up that didn't let him turn back. He couldn't see the stars anymore. He couldn't see what mattered most to him. He couldn't even look up at the first star and make a wish like Sandy used to always do when she was a little kid.

And then it struck her that she was doing the same thing.

It struck her that she was giving up on something that she didn't have to give up on.

It struck her that, if she walked away from Maxwell forever, she could never live with herself, knowing that something that she loved dearly could never return to her.

It struck her like-

_WHAM!!!_

-Well, like Leo running up to Sandy and knocking her off her seat next to Maxwell, causing her to stumble down the steps, being careful not to trip as Leo yelped in delightment and pure excitement. He was obviously laughing, a short little bark after bark, something that Sandy made a face at.

"Oh, you think that's funny, pup?" Sandy sneered, despite Maxwell's disapproving look. The dog just pawed the ground as if he was a little kid that was in severe trouble. Then, Leo made a bolt for the door, realized that it was open, and quickly hopped inside, scared of the fact that Sandy was yelling, "Don't you turn your back on me!"

A low growl could be heard from inside, something that seriously ticked Sandy off.

"Oh, you want to go? You want to go!" Sandy shouted into the house, making Mr. Noppo turn his head from the TV and give the girl a confused look. Sandy went red in the face and quickly muttered an apology and sprinted back down to the porch, panting, "That dog has issues."

"Yeah, issues with you," Maxwell laughed, obviously trying to make a joke.

"Wonderful. I look forward to have a tiny Yorkshire Terrier knock me off the porch for the rest of my life," Sandy said sarcastically as she leaned back to gaze at the stars, Maxwell staring at her the entire time, a smile curving his lips. He looked where Sandy's emerald eyes were gaping up upon a huge streak of white and mixed reds and blues.

"That's the Milky Way," Maxwell started, but stopped in his beginning of his lecture. He knew that Sandy didn't want this moment to be ruined and just copied her watch on the stars, but instead, Sandy looked at Maxwell for more information. He smiled at her and she smiled back, nodding her head for him to continue.

"The Milky Way-"

"Hey! Isn't that like the candy bar?" Sandy suddenly shouted, remembering the caramel goodness and chocolate, licking her lips at the mention of the Mars company's sweets.

Maxwell nodded, cracking a smile while doing so. He remembered that it was Sandy's favorite candy bar even if she didn't have it in years even if she didn't remember it. Maxwell knew that he had some kind of photographic memory, which meant that he could glance at a paper for five seconds and copy it word for word. Although he would never think of trying to plagiarize someone's work, he did use it for schoolwork and note related purposes, which had always swayed the mind of his pupils. But, he never told anyone, not a soul, because he wanted for it to stay a secret. If it wasn't a secret, everyone would accuse him of cheating, just because a received a gift that let him remember stuff so incredibly. It kind of made him feel guilty when he was in third grade and knocked on Sandy's door to find that she was studying about two hours straight for a big test to move up to the next grade and Maxwell himself had only glanced at the paper and memorized every single line and line break. Sandy's now deceased mother had shooed him away, with Sandy looking longingly at him behind her as if she was taken prisoner and forced to get out the history book with Maxwell as her savior and only way out of there. He had felt guilty that day because he had just completely ignored her as if didn't happen and obeyed Sandy's mother as he walked home.

The same kind of thing happened with the stars. It was as if Maxwell could read the stars. But not actually _read _them. What he could do was pinpoint their exact location with ease from a memory of gazing up at the stars every once in a while. All of this left him wondering, even if he never wanted to become an astronomer, if he could find out what else what was out there. It was fascinating to think that he was looking at something so old that a Tyrannosaurus Rex looked at the same ball of light millions of years ago. Sure, it sounded stupid and geeky, but really, Maxwell knew that everyone liked to look up at the stars. Then, he slowly fixed his eyes onto Sandy who's mouth was hanging open, still looking at the same place, but waiting for Maxwell to continue with his tutoring, something that she never wanted Maxwell to tell her.

"Uh." Maxwell's mouth went suddenly dry as Sandy didn't leave her gaze at the stars. She didn't even bother to look away from them. All he could see were her fulgent-

Maxwell shook his head and tightened his eyelids together, for thinking that her eyes were beautiful. He knew that they were, but not in _that _kind of way. He was thinking of a word more like… excited. He nodded his head a little, reasoning that they were in fact, positively, emphatically, firmly, indubitably, surely, undoubtedly, unquestionably _excited. _Yup, that was the word alright. Not anything like fulgent, delicate, delightful, enticing, ideal, ravishing, statuesque, cute-

He bit his lip, trying to hide his cry of frustration going inside his huge brain and turned his head back up to the stars, and doing so, caught Sandy's attention who was watching the entire time.

Unlike the boy sitting next to her, Sandy turned her head to a 90 degree angle that positioned her nose right at Maxwell's ear. She smiled a little bit, Maxwell unknown to her peeking. Her eyes glittered with excitement, not because of the Milky Way, but suspecting that Maxwell was staring at her. Her fingers trembled with feeling, hoping that she could actually tell him…

And here we go again.

_Isn't he so cute?_

_Yeah, don't you just love the hair? It looks as if he gels it everyday._

_The eyes are so amazing! Like they came from one of his comic books…_

_Wait, what?_

_Nevermind._

_Aren't you going to tell him now?_

_Maybe…_

_Yeah! So you do like him!_

_Maybe…_

_Just admit it… _

_Maybe…_

_Come on! You like him, don't you? So go ahead and tell him. This is the perfect place, after all._

_Maybe…_

_I can't believe you! You're turning to a Galileo!_

_Fine! I'll tell him, you happy?_

_Maybe…_

_Oh, shut up._

Sandy looked down, frustrated with herself that she had just agreed herself that she would tell him. Out of all times! Well, this was really the perfect time, but Sandy was scared to tell him. What if she didn't like him? Worse; what if he just ignored her as if nothing had ever happened?

_But what if he does like you?_

_I'm done with this conversation!_

Finally, making up her scattered mind, Sandy started to open her mouth to say something, catching Maxwell's attention.

"I- Maxwell…" She drifted off. Who knew this stuff could get so complicated?! Is this what Bijou was trying to convince her to actually tell? In front of his face?! Was that a rule?! Why was she asking so many questions right now?

"What is it? You can tell me anything," Maxwell chimed, a happy grin ceasing on his face. He had a big gap between gap between his teeth, which made Sandy giggle a little, but it was SO cute to her.

"Uh, I kind of- wanted to… say… uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." She had completely lost it. Maxwell's smile was gone in an instant, a little worried for his friend.

"You all right?" Maxwell said with perplexity. Sandy had just turned a pale white and she was biting her lip anxiously. She didn't say anything until-

"Sandy! You're bleeding," Maxwell cried out as Sandy patted her lip to see a little drop of blood on her index finger and gasped. She was horrified in Maxwell's eyes. Then again, it couldn't be all blamed on her since she looked really nervous to him. But Sandy was thinking of something different. _Ah, crap, how am I supposed to kiss him now? If he falls for me then he'll totally have to kiss me, right? Maybe I should do a quick peck on the cheek-_

"Sandy?" Maxwell asked, his eyes gleaming with curiosity and concern for her. Sandy smiled, giving him a thumbs up to show that she was a-ok.

"Ok, what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Maxwell said it with a little longing to know Sandy was going to tell him. He hoped it wasn't about something serious. He just wanted to look at the stars again.

Sandy heaved a deep breath, rasping a cough in doing so. There was so much sweat on her nose as she looked at Maxwell who nodded her head for her to continue. She felt like an idiot right now. She was furiously tapping her feet on the ground and messing up her ponytail by twirling it back and forth.

"Well… I don't think you exactly know this-"

"Really? That makes me want to know more," Maxwell interrupted, desire located in his eyes. Sandy robotically laughed as she rubbed the back of her head, even more worried than before.

"Ah, man, I need to get this over with. Don't do this to me!" Sandy whined as she turned her head back at the stars. Maxwell frowned as she turned around to face him. She was breathing unevenly, huffing in oxygen and waiting a couple of seconds before exhaling a wheezy piece of air.

"Are you sick? Is that it? Because I have a first aid kit inside and-" Maxwell offered to see that Sandy shook her head, looking down while doing so.

"No, its not something you wouldn't really understand. It's not exactly scientific…"

"I know a lot of stuff besides science. Like the arts and music. You know that I played the lead in the school plays for three years straight and I take a loving for cubism and impressionist for quite a while now. Please? I can understand anything," Maxwell urged, hungry for information and straightening up proudly. Sandy only dropped her head muttering, "Gosh, that's what I'm afraid of."

As Maxwell opened his mouth, Sandy spoke again with sadness in her eyes as she breathed, "I really don't know how do tell you this, Maxwell. I've never been like this before. Bijou, Pashmina, and Sydney keep rattling on and on about me telling you that…"

She shut her eyes, horrified of saying more. She looked at Maxwell, whose grin was gone and eyes were blank, indicating her to go on. She wanted to, but she didn't want to. What did she do to deserve this shit? Love was the worst thing to get into, Sandy easily figured out and it completely engulfed you. There was no out if it, it totally had trapped her until she finally could find a way out and Sandy knew that the only way out of the water that she was slowly drowning was to tell him. What would happen if she told him? It wasn't as if he was her soul mate or anything. It didn't matter, all she had to say those three words.

She cracked.

"I-I… love you," Sandy spluttered out, finishing her sentence.

Maxwell didn't take it very well after that.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry for the whole cliffhanger! My fingers went numb writing it, so I was lazy and decided to end it there. Anyway, enjoy… except for the SxM fans. (laughs evilly.) I think that you know where this is going!

Disclaimer: Gosh, I only do this every couple of chapters, but remember that I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters.

Thanks to all reviewers! Your support really helps me out! (Gosh, I'm starting to sound like a charity person or something.)

ON WITH THE CHAPTER!!!

Chapter 12

He flew backwards, his body flipping over the bench they were sitting on, nearly crushing his skull as he hit the ground-hard- while Sandy gasped in pure shock as she appalled at what just occurred. This wasn't supposed to happen! In all of the movies, this would be the part where Maxwell would say that she would love her too and the credits would go off. But, this… This was just stalling! Sandy immediately sat up, afraid and worried for him. Maxwell appeared to be fine except that he was stuttering and mumbling while rubbing the back of his head. Sandy put her hands on her hips, frowning at how he was acting like a little kid that was just kissed on the playground. She waited patiently as he held onto the pillar for support when he got up, still unstable from either the fall or just Sandy's sentence, but fell once again. To her, it seemed like it was a death sentence and this was completely unnecessary. She sighed as she thought that he just needed an extra push.

"I've never been in love, Max." Sandy used his nickname, not yet ready for 'Maxy'. Maxwell didn't say anything. He was breathing so hard and fast that it looked like he almost drowned just moments ago.

"I really need you to listen," Sandy pleaded in a bitter tone, the conversation going where she didn't want to. Maxwell didn't return a glance and continued looking at the ground making Sandy go beet red. _Temper, temper. Just chill_, Sandy thought as she calmed down.

"What do you say?" Sandy asked, desperate for him to speak. Maxwell didn't look up, still mumbling under his breath with Sandy hoping that he was cussing her out.

"You… and… what… I- Leo?" Maxwell turned his head up to see Sandy in utter confusion and no idea of what he was saying, his eyes copying the strange confusion look. He tried to act mature or something like that, but he couldn't. He was so scared and freaked right now.

"Are you okay?" Sandy asked timidly, shock covering her pale face. The answer was pretty obvious to the looks of Sandy. Maxwell didn't do anything, but wipe the sweat off of his forehead and finally got up. His knees were shaking and his ankles twisting around in funny angles making Sandy feel pity for him. What did he do to actually deserve her fantasies? Sandy should have known that he wouldn't have liked her back, she should have just let it go and be happy with what she had instead of trying to aim for more. As the tears welled up in her eyes, Sandy understood why it was so hard for her to work up to her dreams. Fate wouldn't let her. It was someone else's destiny to do what Sandy would have always wanted to do in life and she couldn't do anything about that. She was helpless, a little drop in the ocean being pushed away by others in search of land, but could never find it. What were the odds that she would reach her dreams? She felt ready to spit on the floor, but tried to keep her emotions in check. To her surprise, Maxwell put his hand on Sandy's shoulder, a weak smile curving his lips.

"Don't cry, ok?" He tried his best to not let Sandy down even if he absolutely had no experience when it came to love. Sandy looked up with big, watering eyes like a little puppy dog. The look tightened his joints and his fingers were locked into place while the rest of him felt guilt. He should have slapped himself raw across the face for doing this to her, for making her ready to cry. But, he had to be logical and do what was right. And it hurt to say-

"I just can't be with you."

She cracked.

Maxwell couldn't believe how much Sandy could wail out in sobs. No, he was in sheer disbelief that Sandy could be so loud. Sandy buried her face in hands and bawled, wet tears soaking out between the cracks of her fingers. The water ran down her arms and neck with all of them plunging down to the ground. She ran over to the porch bench and sat down, covering her entire face with her jacket. Maxwell's lips parted and soon enough his mouth was hanging open in awe of what his sentence had down to her. There Sandy was, trying to wipe away all the tears gushing out of her emerald eyes but failed in the attempt. Maxwell put a hand on her shoulder, only to have it shrugged away. Sandy acted as if he wasn't there and that made this even more difficult. Maxwell put a finger to her chin and lifted her face up for her eyes to face his. He sighed as he let his finger drop, which made Sandy frown in disappointment. He tried to think of a good statement as he stood up.

"I really don't think that it could work out," Maxwell began, trying his very best to make sure that Sandy wouldn't go back to crying. "Our parents-"

Sandy jolted out of her seat and stood up to face Maxwell who shrunk a little in confusion at her sudden action. Her emerald eyes, which were usually cheerful and playful, now were fiery with rage and anger.

"You think this is about our _parents_?" Sandy spat in disgust, frightening Maxwell even more.

"W-Well, yes. They do hate each other and everything so-"

Sandy started pacing down the steps towards the driveway, her nose in the air. She was ready to cry again, but she couldn't. It was as if she ran out of water in her entire body. Her fingers were sore and her neck ached from arching it at a weird angle when she was crying. Behind her, she could hear Maxwell's footsteps as he waddled toward her.

"But-"

Sandy whipped around to face him, pain all across her face. "But what?"

Maxwell opened his mouth to speak but then closed it. Sandy should have known that she should have never done this. She should have just apologized and then the two were be friends again, but that was her mistake.

"Just leave me alone!" Sandy cried out and, before she knew it, tears were dribbling down her cheeks once again, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. She bolted down the driveway and started to run home, leaving a shocked Maxwell behind. He sat on the steps and covered his face with his hands.

_God, what have I done?_

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Bijou was happily skipping towards Maxwell's house, hoping to find Sandy there and tell her about what they had done at the sleepover. Pashmina had tied a pretty bow to Bijou's cat, Princess, and the fuzzy feline went crazy. It started to treat the house like an obstacle course by darting in and out of the chairs, leaping over the couch, and running into the glass window of Bijou's mansion in attempt to be freed of the dark force tied to her tail. It had been enough to make Bijou and Pashmina fall flat on the floor with soda spilling out their mouths and noses while they laughed. Plus, Bijou could see what Sandy had done at Maxwell's, hoping the girl didn't make Maxwell fall too much in love with her. Bijou and Pashmina had prayed that everything would go right with Sandy and Maxwell, hoping that everything would be right in the end. But, Bijou knew that Sandy had a great time after Sandy sent a text after dinner to her.

FLASHBACK:

_Bijou quickly grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it when her phone vibrated. She flipped the cover, seeing that it was Sandy texting her._

_OMG! im having a good time how bout u?_

_Bijou had happily pressed the buttons that lit up whenever she touched making Pashmina, who sat across the table, sigh in jealousy at Bijou's expensive taste._

_**Gr8 just having dinner right now did u watch dat movie?**_

_Sandy was quick with her reply._

_No i'm not going 2 watch da movie max and me are doing fine_

_Bijou smiled as Pashmina walked over, letting a low whistle escape her lips. The two girls squealed with excitement, happy to help their friend. _

_**Dat's amazing! good luck**_

_Thanks i didn't even spill a drop of sauce at dinner!!!_

_**Good, c u l8r**_

___bye_

_After Bijou stuffed her phone back in her pocket, both girls hugged each other, excited that Sandy's dream finally came true._

END OF FLASHBACK

Bijou's pigtails bobbed up and down as she bounced down the street in pure excitement. Then, to her surprise, she saw Hamtaro run by her at an alarmingly fast pace. This made Bijou stop and call out, "Oh, 'Amtaro!"

Hamtaro whipped around and was completely excited to see Bijou. He waved while running over to her, but was sprinting to fast and he didn't even have time to stop when he ran smack into her, knocking the two of them over. The were both rolling and finally stopped, Bijou going a beet red as she laid on top of him. Hamtaro, however, didn't seem to be bothered and just said, "Could you get off of me, Bijou?"

Bijou gasped, mortified that fell on top of him and had blushed in the process. She quickly fell to the other side.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Bijou apologized, still scared of revealing her crush on Hamtaro.

Hamtaro ran his hands through his hair and replied cheerfully, "That's all right! No gain, no pain!"

Bijou giggled as Hamtaro puffed out his chest, not noticing that he mixed up the two. "I zhink dat you 'ave it zee ozher way around!"

"Oh, cats." Hamtaro deflated his chest and hung his head down in disappointment. This just made Bijou giggle a little more and Hamtaro quickly recovered from his cloud of darkness, clapping his hands together happily.

"Oh, well. Anyway, I have to go to Maxwell's," Hamtaro stated, oblivious that Bijou's spine gave a wave of shock.

"Vhy are you going to Maxvell's?" Bijou asked timidly, a little worried of the coincidence that he would be going to the same destination that she was. Hamtaro just tilted his head to the side and said, "Who's Maxvell?"

Bijou cocked a little smile and stated, "You know who Maxvell is, don't you?"

Hamtaro just shook his head in sheer confusion, not getting at all what Bijou was saying. Bijou twirled a pigtail in thought as she reminded, "I'm French, remember?"

Finally getting at what she was saying, Hamtaro bobbed his head up and down, smiling in doing so. He pumped his right fist in the air, shouting, "Right!"

He let his arm fall back to his side and Bijou started walking. Hamtaro followed her, saying, "Where are you going?"

Bijou bit her lip, kind of worried that Hamtaro was going to the same house. After all, Sandy wasn't really a close friend of Hamtaro's and neither was Maxwell. What did he want to do there? She whisked around at his question and repeated, "Vhat are you doing to do at Maxvell's?"

Hamtaro shrugged and replied, "It was something about Sandy, I think. Well, that's what Boss told me. I guess that we're all meeting Maxwell in his driveway or something to help the guy out."

" 'Elp?" Bijou squeaked. What had happened over there? Hamtaro looked taken aback but continued, "Yeah, Boss told me one of the two was heartbroken. Whatever that means."

He let out a loud gasp and yelled, "What if one of them broke their heart and now they're in the hospital!?"

Bijou put her face in her hands, shaking her head at Hamtaro's cluelessness. She sighed and said, "Oh, 'Amtaro, you are so… ridiculous!"

Hamtaro just tilted his head to the side as she left him in the dust, leaving the poor multi-colored haired boy on the dusty sidewalk. The wind fell whipped through his hair, cooling off his ears and face, but he still felt hot inside after Bijou landed on him. He didn't know what it was until he felt that his nose was burning! Why was it burning? Was this natural? As the questions raced through Hamtaro's mind, he had no choice but to say his famous line whenever he was confused.

"Uh… Heke?"

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"I can't believe that he would do this to my little sis!"

Stan was pacing the room instead of his own father. He was viciously scrubbing his bands, showing his frustration of the situation. Sandy was curled up on the couch in her father's arms, crying for what seemed like hours. Her father wiped a tear with his thumb, showing his symphony for her, looking as if he was about to cry too. Meanwhile, Stan grabbed a fistful of hair, looking as if he was about to tear his scalp apart. Sandy's twin looked the most angry, even angrier than their father. Stan had been pacing, muttering under his breath and stopping every once in a while, his mouth agape as if he was about to say something only to resort back to pacing. He kept shaking his head in disappointment every minute and when he looked at Sandy, he gave a reassuring grin, obviously trying to make Sandy happier. Sandy, on the other hand, didn't do anything but wrap her arms around her knees and look as if she was hyperventilating. This made both of the boys in the room give a concerned look whenever Sandy would hiccup or give a rasping wheeze, but Sandy didn't seem to notice. All that mattered was how much her heart was broken, ripped apart and thrown away in the street where no one could retrieve it. Finally, after about an hour of water works, Sandy's father stood up, his arms crossing his chest. His face was blank, but Stan could make out a little determination in his face. This couldn't help but make Stan feel a little more comfortable in a way that everything was going to be all right. After all, this was just a little crush for Sandy and she shouldn't have been acting like this. But, Stan couldn't help but feel sad himself for he was awestruck that Maxwell- out of all people to break Sandy's heart- could really do this to his sister. His partner in crime. His 'lil sis'. His sun when it would get a little dark. How could a bookworm do this to her? Stan wracked his brain for answers as Sandy looked at her father.

"Sandy." That was all their father said. Just her name before he left for the kitchen to make dinner. Sandy had stopped crying while Stan was utterly confused. The twin sister understood and lifted herself off of the couch and glumly walked towards her room with a wincing Stan who had no idea what was going on. Sandy felt guilty for leaving him hanging like this since she would tell him whatever what was going on and he would do the same. She took a final look at the room before departing into room.

"What's going on here?!" Stan called out.

Sandy led herself to her own window, a few tears trickling halfway down her cheek and she carelessly rubbed them away, flicking her fingers to get the salty substance off of her. They always came, it seemed to her. It seemed that everyday they wanted to escape. It seemed that for them to escape, she had to cry. It seemed to her that when she cried, they mocked her by always coming back to haunt her. As she looked up into the sky, she saw the same stars that she did last night with Maxwell. At first, she let a small smile creep up her face and stared at the Milky Way for a while. Then, she shut her eyes tightly, scared of any more pain to be given. Sandy lifted her head a little to view the stars once again and gritted her teeth together. The Milky Way looked as if it was mocking her. It had remained the same before any of this happened. Leaning on her windowsill, she sighed and brought one hand to her cheek, letting her head rest on it.

"Why did you do this for me?" Sandy asked aloud in desperation. She waited and then shook her head brutally before saying, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Nothing. The sky remained the same thing as it had before.

"Why am I even here?" Sandy whispered quietly, just to herself. But, she almost flipped over when she saw a huge streak of white soar across the sky, rocketing across the Milky Way and then disappearing. Sandy gasped and leaned over the open window to see if it was still there, but it was long gone.

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"Did you hear?"

"About Sandy and Maxwell?"

"I heard that they broke up!"

"They were never together. Besides Maxwell broke up with Mandy, not Sandy."

"Does it matter? Both Sandy and Maxwell aren't talking to each other."

"Boss said it was because Sandy told Maxwell that she liked him but Maxwell didn't like her back."

"Ha, that's what she gets for hitting me with a dodge ball that hard and rubbing it in my face."

"But Maxwell looks pretty sad today though…"

"It's what Maxwell deserves for all the time acting like such a smart-"

"Shut up! Sandy's coming over here!"

Sandy mentally slapped herself for coming to school today. Already, Mandy had tripped her in the halls- twice- for telling Maxwell that she liked him. It caused a multiple number of laughs and outbursts from her own pupils. Then, in science, Sparkle made Sandy slip on some kind of chemical thing and Maxwell had to awkwardly help Sandy get up, seeing as the rest of the class was on the floor slapping their fists on their binders as they laughed. In math, Sandy was paired with Maxwell who looked away from her the entire time of solving the slope of linear equations. He had just written down answer after answer and let Sandy copy off of him, something that he never allowed her to do. Spat, being as the horrendous teacher he was, told that since Sandy was copying off of Maxwell's work she would have to clean the science room today until it showed no sign of the vinegar and iodine on the floor. The only thing that Sandy couldn't figure out was how to get the iodine color out since it stained everything and you could never rub off the smell of vinegar. Of course Spat had done this to her. He knew that there would be no chance that she could clean the liquids off. It was lunchtime right now and Sandy had taken her usual spot next to Bijou, Pashmina, Sydney, and Alice but was farther away from them. Maxwell was no where to be found.

"Hey, Sandy. Are you okay?" Pashmina asked. Sydney nodded for Sandy to answer as she bit her sandwich. Sandy shook her head and Bijou and Pashmina looked worriedly at each other while Alice looked up from her extra credit work. Bijou turned to Sandy with great concern and Pashmina mimicked her expression.

"Vhere is your lunch?" Bijou asked. Sandy didn't bother to look up.

"Mandy 'accidently' bumped into me so, like, my lunch fell onto the floor," Sandy said bitterly and put quotations at 'accidently'. Bijou and Pashmina once again looked at each other, desperate if one of them could help the other. Bijou twirled one of her pigtails as Alice said, "Sandy, I think that you're letting this get to your head a little."

Bijou tightened her eyes and Pashmina was ready to plug one of her fingers into her ears when Sandy would scream in an array of curses at them for thinking such a thing. Alice and Sydney just looked at each other, not knowing of Sandy's temper. But, it was not as they expected and they slowly let their guard down when Sandy settled her head on the table. Then, Mandy strolled over with Sparkle, looking happy as ever. When she caught site of a depressed Sandy, she couldn't help but smirk. Every girl except Sandy casted her a 'You better stay away or you'll be sorry that you didn't learn self defense' look and Sparkle stuck her tongue out while Mandy laughed.

"Aw. Look at poor Sandy," Mandy sneered. Seeing that Sandy didn't even bother to look up, she continued. "I couldn't believe that Maxwell let her down like that. But, then again, when it comes to Sandy, I can."

Mandy nudged Sparkle in the ribs for her to agree and Sparkle nodded her head, her eyes on Hamtaro the entire time while Bijou looked Sparkle suspiciously. Sandy ignored her. She didn't feel like talking right now, especially to a person like Mandy.

"Hey, are you dead or something?" Mandy asked as she constantly poked Sandy in the back of the head and finally swatted her neck to get the blonde's attention. This caught Sandy's attention big time. Sandy whipped her head around, her ponytail flipping behind her. Mandy smirked in satisfaction and Sparkle snickered at the scene. It made Sandy turn a dark red and the rest of the girls exchanged concerned looks. Finally, after an anticipated minute, Sandy clocked Mandy smack in the chin with a curled fist making Mandy fly backwards and into the 'jock' table. Sandy blew on her fists as Mandy hastily jumped up with the look of death imprinted in her eyes. She moved forward, a little dizzy at the blow, but managed to kick Sandy directly in the knee. Sandy winced at the enormous amount of pain and was about to deliver another blow to Mandy when Ms. Harmony ran over, out of breath at the outlook from her own stance by Spat.

"What is going on here!?" she asked in awe. Sandy and Mandy both pointed to each other and each accused, "She started it!"

Ms. Harmony put her hands on her hips, something Pashmina did for a warning, and yelled, "You two are coming with me!"

She led Sandy and Mandy away with both girls staring darkly at each other casting faces at one another when Ms. Harmony wasn't looking.

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"I can't believe that you did that! What the heke is wrong with you, Sands?!"

Sandy just tossed her head in the air as Stan went rambling on and on about what she did in the lunchroom as the two siblings walked home. It was a warm spring day with billowing clouds over the horizon to show a huge chance of rain. Even through this, everyone went back to their own business. Well, except for Stan.

"C'mon, sis! Listen to me," Stan urged his sister, only to get a cold glare from Sandy. This silenced him pretty well until Stan came up with another topic after topic with Sandy ignoring him the entire time, too tired and angry to actually listen to him. She just forged on despite Stan's angry looks when she advanced in front of him until finally Stan put a hand on her shoulder. Sandy slowly turned around, looking up at her big brother. Stan's emerald eyes were solemn and serious for once.

"Sandy, you've been acting really weird ever since he did this to you." He then let his hand clutch his backpack, not taking his eyes off of Sandy. Sandy heaved in a deep breath, scared of answering him and just turned back around to go back to walking. Then, Mandy caught up to them giving Sandy a whine of disappointment. Mandy had on a bandage on her lip where Sandy had punched her and for Stan and Sandy, they were ready to laugh.

"Hey, Sandy! I heard from Ms. Harmony that you're the one who started the fight so you get the blame," Mandy taunted, obviously overjoyed.

"I heard that you're the one who's making everyone else's lives living hell," Sandy muttered under her breath and kept striding towards her house. Mandy huffed out a breath of disappointment of the lack of attention. She smiled as she got out a poster and form while whipping out a pen, clicking it as if she was a lawyer.

"Oh, Sandy!" Mandy called as Stan shoved past her.

"What is it now?" Sandy spat and whipped around. As she caught site of the poster, her eyes widened in surprise as Mandy held it up.

_Rhythmic Gymnastics competition!_

_ATTENTION GYMNASTS:_

_On April 2__nd__, a national rhythmic gymnastics competition will come around. _

_Where: 223 S. Walkway Avenue Tokyo, Japan _

_When: 8AM-6PM_

_Rhythmic Gymnasts needed._

_**Winner of the competition will be flown to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in the USA and will get a chance to be in the all famous Olympics!**_

Without another word, Sandy snatched the form and pen from Mandy's hands and filled out the form.

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	13. Chapter 13

I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!! I finally updated this!!! Besides working on the last two chapters after this, I'll be working on a new Ham Ham High School chapter, so hang in there.

A SPECIALLY special thanks out to DolphinGoddess 17 for betaing (Fishing… Inside joke, don't pay attention to it…) this chapter since it was SO long. Thanks so much for the criticism and clean up!

An apology and dedication for The Fanfic Reader because of the wait and for sticking to this story! Thanks a whole bunch!

Chapter 13

Sandy inhaled deeply as she wound around her ponytail a red ribbon. She let out a content sigh when she looked at herself with her mother's ribbon in her hair. She had given it to Sandy on the first day that Sandy went to preschool and the young girl had cherished the gift ever since. Sandy checked her glass trophy case where she kept the accessory all the time with her eyes peering into the cabinet with anxiety before she was positive that the ribbon was there. If it wasn't… Well, Sandy didn't want to think of what could happen without her lucky ribbon by her side. It would be too horrifying, trying to unearth her ribbon and wrecking the house in the process. Sandy shuddered when she remembered the _last _time she had lost her ribbon.

It was in first grade and her parents were out so they hired a babysitter for Sandy and Stan. At around bedtime, Sandy reached on her desk for her ribbon, but found… nothing. She thought back at the sound of her scream, almost feeling the ringing in her ears at the memorable sound. The young Sandy had remembered that her parents said to call 911 if anything went wrong, so that's exactly what she did. It wasn't a very warm welcome when the Torahamu parents found about five police cars and two fire trucks surrounding their house and they actually believed that their children were in grave peril. Sandy had definitely learned her lesson and made sure that she would look on the ground for her ribbon before calling 911.

She turned around, like Bijou would, to get a good view of what she looked like in her new gymnast outfit. It was completely red with yellow and orange flames billowed at the base. The design was of the shape of a one-piece swimsuit. She also had a mini, cheerleader-like skirt with the same flames to dissolve into the rest of her outfit, sprinkled with glitter that Pashmina ordered Sandy to wear.

Then, as Bijou and Pashmina giggled at Sandy's appearance, they decided to do make-up despite Sandy's protests. Sandy almost wiped away the red eye shadow and glitter they had put on her, but Bijou was a _little_ more determined than Sandy and strictly made sure that Sandy wouldn't dare to touch her face. As she twirled around once more, the door of her room opened wide to reveal Mandy, all dressed in a vibrant blue. Sandy's mouth hung open at Mandy's outfit in pure shock.

It was exactly the same design as Sandy's except it was an ocean blue and it had waves at the bottom of her outfit. She was wearing blue eye shadow and a blue (Sandy gagged at the thought.) ribbon in her long, dark brown hair, tied up in a ponytail. She could see Mandy's evil grin, trying to provoke her into doing something regrettable. No doubt. Mandy leaned against the wall as if she withheld some kind of secret and it made Sandy angry. The honey blonde didn't want any competition like this with her rival in it. It wasn't because she was more angry than usual or anything, since Sandy was always mad around Mandy, but it was because Sandy was afraid. Her last rhythmic gymnastics routine hadn't been exactly her best, since it had turned out to be one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She could still feel the sting of her right arm which she had fallen on and the sting on her pride just thinking about how she fell off the stage, tripping and having been tied up in her own ribbon.

"Well, this is it," Mandy said brightly, despite being only one of the hundreds of contestants entered in the tournament.

"Looks like it is," Sandy agreed, keeping her voice low, but it showed a burning to get on stage. Mandy noticed this and laughed, then started striding towards her.

"Every big competition like this," Mandy started, her voice cold as ice. "you always come in first place while I'm the runner up."

Her words were bitter and Sandy felt her fingers go numb as she grabbed her red rhythmic gymnastic ribbon. Mandy sighed and glared at Sandy.

"You have no idea how it feels to lose. You never lost a big game or competition before and I'm going to make sure that you know what it feels like for the rest of us!"

Sandy jumped a little, worried from the other girl's tone, which held a hint of anger in it. She regained her composure and brushed past Mandy and sneered, "Keep dreaming."

Mandy raised her eyebrow and followed Sandy to the gymnast's room when they were all ready. The two girls were some of the last ones there since the clock already read 7:46. The competition would begin soon. Sandy sighed and attempted to calm down, wiping off the perspiration beaded on her nose. This was it. This was the moment where she could finally escape from everything and get a big chance at her goal in life. She couldn't believe how lucky she was though to get a time like this. Her eyes glittered in excitement as the first contestant went outside.

She read her own number on her card since she couldn't see the number pinned to her back . 136. She took a quick glance at the tag on Mandy's back and grinned. 135. This was going to be fun, she was sure of it. The hours passed and passed and Sandy got more and more excited to get up there. Finally, contestant 132 was on deck and Sandy looked as if she was hyperventilating to heave her feet on stage. Her excitement mounted with every heartbeat, with each contestant going up. She was feeling really good.

Well, that was until she grabbed at her ponytail to check that was in order and found that her ribbon was gone.

She let out an ear-splitting scream. She couldn't believe that it was gone! Who would do this to her? It was right on her head just moments ago and now it disappeared out of thin air. The remainder of the contestants just stared at the emerald-eyed girl who was on all fours crawling through every chair and furniture piece to see if she could catch any sight of a scarlet ribbon out there. As soon as gymnast 132 was done, Sandy gave another wail of despair and started to frantically demand people if they had her ribbon. Mandy, however, just smiled at Sandy, pleased to see that her lucky ribbon was gone.

"Hey, are you okay?" a security guard asked her as he ran up to her. Two more showed up, probably called from duty at the sound of Sandy's squalls, shocked that nothing seemed to be wrong in room. It looked like they had been expecting a bloody mess with mangled bodies piled up in the corner with a man in black holding a gun, but they only found a girl screaming for, to them, no reason.

"My ribbon! My ribbon!" Sandy shrieked, moving her feet to see if it was under her heels. The head security guard just looked at wondering if she belonged in the mental hospital and the other two mimicked him. Even throughout Sandy's sobs, everyone's faces scrunched up in confusion as they watched the girl.

"Uh, we can get you a another rhythmic gymnastic ribbon in-" the security guard generously volunteered.

"No! It was my mother's!" Sandy wailed. She covered her face in disappointment and frustration at the people in front of her.

"Well, if you're going up soon, you need a ribbon," the security guard chuckled, but received a cold glare from Sandy.

"It was like, for my hair, idi- I mean, could you please help me find it?" The last thing that she wanted was to be kicked out of the stadium for insulting an official and missing her only chance at fame. The security guard frowned and dismissed the others with a wave of his hand. The gruff authorities gladly swept out of the room, leaving the sniffling little girl and their leader.

"Okay, well, I'll try to let you know if I find it, all right?" the security guard reassured, crouching down to become face to face with Sandy who meekly nodded, hot wet tears streaming down her face. The security guard smiled and ruffled her hair, giving an encouraging smile at her. Sandy sighed and whispered a prayer, closing her eyes.

"I'm really sorry I lost that ribbon. Just let me find it some way before I go up." She looked up at the ceiling and breathed, "_Please._ In any way, I beg of you to help me find it."

Contestant 134 waltzed in, looking a little dazed after her act and Mandy quickly jumped up, hearing her name being called out. Sandy slowly turned around, sticking her tongue out at her rival, Mandy just flashed a mocking smile. She wagged half of her index finger up and down in her trademark way of waving goodbye and both girls didn't say a word as Mandy raced out.

"Hold onto this and don't let _anyone_ see it," Mandy demanded in a low whisper to Sparkle who was seated in the stands right next to the entrance. She had surreptitiously handed a little red object to her and sprinted out onto the mats where the competition took place as the crowd cheered her on.

Sandy didn't want to look at Mandy's performance live because of the temptation of dashing onto center stage, pummeling her to a pulp so she just stared at the TV screen put up for waiting contestants. For once in her life, she felt afraid of Mandy's soon to be act. Without her ribbon, she was helpless. Every day, Sandy swore that she would wear it no matter what happened or what the circumstances of the day were. And as Mandy's music went off, Sandy was furiously gnawing on her nails, drawing blood with every chomp. Her breathing grew deep and she started to cough, sweating with every hack. It rattled her mind so much that she felt she could never go up there without her ribbon but there wasn't a thing to do about it.

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"Beat that, Loserhamu," Mandy jeered, smiling at Sandy's worried expression and incapability to make a comeback. Sandy looked away and managed to get up, wobbling in the process.

"Make sure that you don't trip like you did last time!" Mandy snickered, amused at the thought of Sandy falling flat on her face once again.

Sandy heaved in a deep breath as the announcer declared her name in a low, but exciting voice as every announcer should. She gulped and stumbled her way towards the stage in a much less entertaining way than the rest of the gymnasts there had. But as she walked- _staggered- _towards the stage, the crowd still gave a warm cheer of anticipation and enjoyment, ready to see the last gymnast of the day. In the very front were the ham-hams and Sandy's family. Well, except for _him _and Sandy didn't feel like saying the name at a time like this.

And as she looked upon her frantic friends and family, she couldn't help but frown and look away, not returning the heartwarming grins they were aiming at her. It wasn't because she didn't like the sign "The Sandstorm is here!" that Stan and her father held up, but it was because her mother wasn't here to see this. She wasn't here to see her daughter finally get to her dreams for real. And if Sandy won when her mother wasn't here, then she was sure that she wouldn't be able to get on that plane for America. Sandy couldn't help but shed a few tears and have the judges run up to her to see if she was okay. However, Sandy only pushed them away as she rubbed her eyes, trying to rid her tears and grabbed her hula-hoop.

Finally, the song "Sandstorm" went off, quickening Sandy's heartbeat. She started off slow, but only for the beginning.

_Okay, breathe,_ Sandy told herself as the first note kicked into the air.

_Stop. Now left foot. Stop. Right foot. Stop. Move to the music. Loosen up a little. NOW!_

As soon as the music fired up, Sandy made sure that she put her hula hoop right next her left side, jumping through it again and again, trying to act as pumped as she could. Treating the hoop like a jump rope, she twirled it around her body, skipping up and down while doing so. Following her routine, she made sure that the juggling clubs were ready when the music transitioned into another song.

_Put one in the air. Hold it. Throw all three up. Flip. Hold it. Juggle all three for a while. Stop. Toss. Don't mess up on the splits. Catch them, don't lose it! C'mon, Sands, you can do better than that!_

Sandy hurriedly tossed the clubs away, making room for her jump rope routine, hopping all around the stage. She did her flips in between the jumps hoping that she wouldn't trip or fall like Mandy had warned her. She shut her eyes tight, sweating buckets while she held her breath for the finishing double flip and quickly exchanged her jump rope for her ribbon.

_Okay, Sandy. Don't screw up now!_

Sandy waved her ribbon around like a magician with her magic wand, twirling it around her body and tossing it up in the air. Catching it was a big part for her because she had to go with the beat of the music and nail each move at the best moment. Dance movements and flips were essential in her act too.

_Almost done!_

Sandy gave her ribbon a high vertical throw, doing the splits as best as she could on the spot. Her eyes squinted towards the ceiling as she searched for her ribbon, but they drifted off to the stands where people were stamping their feet wildly for the big finish.

And she could have sworn that she saw her mother smack in the middle of Stan and her father. She gaped as her mother winked at her, Sandy rubbed her eyes to see if she was real but, as she looked back to the audience, her vision- if it was a vision- was gone. Sandy couldn't make out what just happened, freaking out partially and thinking that she had just seen a ghost. Then, reality hit her right in the face as her ribbon that was airborne clunked on top her head. Hearing the chuckles and 'oohs' of disappointment from the audience, made Sandy scramble for her red ribbon, gripping it and then waving it in the air as the song finished.

Heart thudding against her chest and sweating uncontrollably, Sandy jolted up on two feet. She quickly bowed and ran out, going red in the face from embarrassment.

Inside the room that the gymnast's gathered in, Sandy walked in to see Mandy on all fours with hoots of laughter escaping her mouth. Sandy pouted, making a face at the scene. Realizing that Sandy had entered, Mandy straightened up, choking back giggles. She took a quick glance at Sandy and ran up, laughing all the way. Sandy sat down and covered her face, now remembering her mistake. Before she knew it, she was weeping again.

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Mandy rushed out of the room when it the intermission finally came, running over to the spot where Sparkle was waiting for her. Really, she hated to leave Sandy when it was the perfect moment for her to make fun of the girl's performance, but she needed this information immediately. Sparkle wasn't exactly the trust worthiest of the duo and Mandy wasn't going to let her friend stop her from ruining Sandy's life.

"Well?" Sparkle snorted, snobby as ever. Mandy rolled her eyes at Sparkle's stupidity, for she was oblivious to anything that Mandy had planned.

"Well, what about that ribbon?" Mandy said, tapping her foot impatiently and crossing her arms.

"It's right here. Do you think that I'd lose it?" Sparkle stuck her hand in her pocket, taking out a red hair ribbon. It looked lifeless, all worn and dirty as it fluttered in the breeze a little bit.

"With you Sparkle, you lose everything, including your mind," Mandy joked and received a cold glare from her friend. Mandy slapped her on the shoulder, showing that she was kidding. Sparkle didn't lose the frown, but her eyes brightened as she asked Mandy her long awaited question.

"What should we do with it?" Sparkle was finally becoming a follower instead of a leader. Mandy disdainfully picked up the ribbon, looking around then throwing it over her shoulder onto the floor.

"Oops," Mandy snickered, Sparkle copying her fake bemused expression and both girls strode off, laughing and giggling.

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Maxwell walked into the crowd, hastily stuffing his hands in his pockets as he hung his head down when he passed Stan's party. He leaned against a wall, afraid of being caught by Hamtaro and the others. They would surely run him out of the stadium for breaking Sandy's heart. It made him cringe to think that he caused all of this just by telling Sandy that he didn't like her the way that she liked him. It was awkward in school. It was awkward when she looked at him. It was awkward when he even heard her name. As he thought about this, he felt a something made of fabric-or string, it was so fragile- on his ankle. Maxwell bent down and plucked a small, red ribbon from his shoe. It was waving around delicately in the soft breeze, looking as lifeless as it had as soon as it was out of Sandy's possession in his own palm. The ribbon was worn from usage with a thread peeling away from the entire object every now and then. Maxwell enclosed his fingers around it and carefully deposited it in one of his pockets.

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Sandy sighed as she brushed away her bangs, wiping a tear from her cheek. She hiccupped slightly, ashamed of how she could be such a wimp. The award ceremonies were closing in and, unlike any other competition that Sandy had ever been in, she didn't know her score. As she wiped her nose with her jacket, she thought of the many possibilities of not getting into at least third place. That would be awful, a disgrace and embarrassment to her gymnastics name and worse; Mandy would be there to rub it in her face. She sniffled as third place ran up to the stands to receive a small bouquet and bronze medal. Then, the announcer spoke again.

"And for second place… SANDY TORAHAMU!"

The crowd gave a huge roar of applause as Sandy walked out, waving in every direction that she could even though her shoulders drooped down. She tried her best to smile even though large tears swam down her cheeks when she was handed a huge bouquet. Sandy could feel the silver medal hang down her neck, sagging her head down a little to carry the weight. She waved at the crowd once again and straightened up in her second place stand, waiting for the rest of the nail biting results.

"And to take first place… Drum roll please!" The audience drummed their feet against the floor in an attempt for the overdone dramatic pause until the announcer declared from his box the winner.

"MANDY CHENNEL! Give a big round of applause for Mandy! She's going to the Olympics!"

Time seemed to freeze for Sandy while the rest of the people threw their arms in the air, screaming for Mandy to run up. She did, sprinting towards the stands with her arms over her head in a cheer that she won. Mandy bent her head down so the judges could give her the gold medal along with the flowers. After they had done so, Mandy leapt on top of the stand in overexcitement and held up her gold medal, springing up and down. Meanwhile, third place waved at the crowd, but Sandy's arms remained limp and numb from shock. She just let Mandy slide to the top while here she was, down on the second place space.

She wasn't the only one who was in awe. Hamtaro and the others felt an eerie silence creep upon them as no one in their section said anything despite the cheering fans surrounding them. Stan, holding the sign "Brother of the Sandstorm" and Hamtaro gripping "Here comes the Sandstorm!" both looked at each other before letting their eyes fall onto Sandy's disappointed expression before lowering their signs a little. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the judges dismissed all of the winners to the gymnasts' room while the rest of the crowd was kept in their seats.

Sandy, moping about, teetered towards a vacant couch and plopped down on it, clutching her silver medal to her heart. Mandy acted the opposite and happily skipped inside, humming to herself with the gold medal hanging on her neck jumping up and down. One look at the now weeping Sandy gave her a wry smile in an instant.

"It HURTS to lose, doesn't it, Torahamu?" Mandy sneered, cherishing every moment that she had to rub it in Sandy's face. Sandy didn't look up to Mandy's delight. "Of course, YOU wouldn't know, would you?" Mandy made sure that she stressed the important words and, once again to her appeal, Sandy remained silent.

"And of course, that means that I'M going to the Olympics. Not YOU." She loved to mock Sandy. She never got to do it in sports, so why not start now?

Before Mandy could say anything else, Sandy sat up and extended her arm out towards Mandy with a grin on her face. It wasn't a sarcastic smile. It was more of a welcoming, friendly smile that Mandy had never seen from Sandy.

"Is this some sort of joke? Because if it is, this is the stupidest joke I've ever seen," Mandy condemned, curling her hand into a fist.

No. I mean it. I'm really sorry and I hope you do well in the Olympics." She grabbed hold of Mandy's hand and gave it a quick jolt before turning her back against an enthralled Mandy. She heaved in a deep breath before departing to look for her family, but her path was blocked when a judge ran in. Thinking that she was there for only Mandy, Sandy tried to move past her only to get a shove from the judge for her to stop.

"You are Sandy, right?" the judge asked. Sandy nodded, happy not to be called "Ms. Torahamu" like some of the non-sport authorities did. The judge looked at her for a long time and beckoned Mandy to get out of the room. Mandy obeyed, but shot a confused look at the both of them.

"When would to like to go to Colorado, Sandy?" the judge asked with a glint of excitement in her eye. Now, Sandy was beyond confused.

"But…. But, I didn't win," Sandy protested and hunched her shoulders down at her pathetic act. The judge vigorously shook her head, black hair waving against her face.

"No, no. Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you don't go. Your act would have been first place worthy hadn't that little mishap gone on towards the end with your ribbon. That, and I saw your good sportsmanship when you congratulated the first place winner." The judge beamed down at Sandy who was still trying to process this information.

"I-I'm going to the Olympics?" Sandy whispered, scared that this could be a lie. The judge nodded her head in joy, grinning the entire time.

Sandy looked down and started to play with her bangs. She had gotten a chance to go into the Olympics by mostly being a good sport, not a good player. But, wasn't that the same? Usually, if Sandy had gotten first place and Mandy got second, Sandy would be doing a victory dance in front of the entire stadium, expressing her feelings towards the win. If that were the case, Sandy wouldn't have had a care if the others felt bad. It were the winners who actually succeeded, not any loser. However, even though Sandy lost, she would be labeled as a winner.

And it struck her that she was changing her entire look at life. For thirteen years, she thought that showing off and making sure that the world wouldn't forget you if you didn't win was what mattered most. Was her drive. Now, she realized what she had been missing.

_It HURTS to lose, doesn't it, Torahamu? Of course, YOU wouldn't know, would you?_

_You always are the one in first place while I'm the runner up!_

_You never lost any a big game or competition before and I'm going to make sure that you know how it feels for the rest of us!_

As Mandy's words haunted her mind, Sandy finally realized that her own philosophy of life was gone and replaced with a new belief. It was weird to feel like everyone else, like a follower instead of a leader, but… It felt better for her to make sure life was like this.

And she was happy with this new life.

"What do you say?" the judge asked quickly when she found that Sandy was caught in a trance. Sandy shook her head a little and grinned at the judge.

"Sign me up for the next flight to the USA."

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"YES! MY SISTER IS GOING TO THE OLYMPICS! THE FRIGGN' OLYMPICS! HELL YEAH!"

"Stan! Watch your language!"

"Sorry, Pops. I'm just so psyched!"

Sandy grinned at Stan's reaction to her position now. They were all in the car with leftovers from dinner at Olive Garden, Sandy's favorite restaurant when she celebrated something. Plastic forks and empty soda cups were scattered on the floor of the car with a little bit of breadcrumbs every couple of inches.

"I can't believe it!" Sandy exclaimed as they all walked into the house. It was dusk and around 6 o' clock so everyone would just be relaxing or chattering away about the exciting competition, but Stan had left to get a mini cake for celebration. In the car, the three had discussed the matter of getting Sandy to the airport where, before boarding the plane, she would bid a last goodbye to all of her friends. For the present, it would just be Sandy and her father together to speak matters.

"First of all, Sands, great job," her father complimented to get a happy grin from Sandy. "And second, I hope that you'll get to see us every once in a while."

Sandy jolted her head up, her eyes quivering of not knowing what he meant. She gulped while she gripped the couch in thirst for knowledge.

"See me once in a while?" Sandy cheeped in an unusually high-pitched voice. Seeing that Sandy didn't know this, her father slouched his shoulders and hung his head down.

"Sands. They're going to keep you there until the beginning of the 2012 Olympics. That's four years from now," her father stated before he looked into Sandy's eyes.

Sandy double-checked his math and was shocked. He was right. It was 2008 at the time. She never knew that she'd have to leave her family for a whopping four years. This was never in the contract that she signed… But then again, she never read it and her father told her to do whatever she wanted with that pen. Why couldn't she pay attention when it involved fine print?

"B-But, I didn't see… I mean, when am I…" Her voice drifted off when she realized how much she was really giving up.

"I know, Sandy. But, that agent of yours told me that you would be able to come back for the holidays and your birthday, which is summer so that won't be so bad, wouldn't it be?" Her father sat down next to her on the couch. "I know you don't like it, but you need to move on. You're a great athlete, you shouldn't be wasting your time in a crazed city like this."

"So you want me to go?!" Sandy gasped before she could hold back the question. Her father, eyes widening when he realized that what he said didn't come out right, quickly ruffled her hair and let a smile escape.

"Of course not. But that shouldn't stop you, right?" he chuckled. He tried to sound happy. The last thing that they would need was this to end in tears.

An awkward pause came upon them until Sandy squeaked, "Do you think that I can do it?"

Her father lifted his head back and laughed, astonished at Sandy's question.

"I think that you're more than capable to drag your suitcase to the airport tomorrow. Believe me, you're so feisty that if someone brought scissors and hand creams in the security lines, you'd beat the police to the fight."

Sandy couldn't help but beam at her father's thinking and giggled, "I meant if I can win the Olympics."

The laughter stopped and her father let in a deep sigh. He faced her and patted her on the back.

"Only if you want to."

With that, he started moving towards the kitchen, but stopped at the counter. Slowly, he turned towards the door and looked out the screen door to see nothing on the deserted street. He shook his head and closed his eyes, muttering something then saying, "Amen."

Sandy was perplexed by his actions. Their family usually didn't go to church because of their own business and they didn't say any prayers unless it was something that had completely lost hope. She sat up and, feeling better because of their talk, hopped towards her father, casting him a huge smile.

"What's up? You all right?" she asked, poking him in the shoulder sarcastically. He didn't smile back, but his eyes ventured towards his arm… His scarred one that Sandy had seen before.

Sandy copied his dreaded look and then said, "Ah, it's ok. I bet Stan's on his way home right now."

He didn't look up to Sandy's appall. Stan had only been gone for about an hour, it wasn't so much of a big deal. This had gone on for a long time whenever Stan and Sandy was out with their friends or taking walks and always came home to their ecstatic father whom asked them where they were and why they kept him waiting for so long. Annoyed by this, Stan and Sandy chose to ignore his bickering and lectures about it and retreated to their rooms.

Then, a ringing sound could be heard from the home phone and, fast as a lightning bolt, Sandy's father leapt over to it. He grabbed the phone with deliberate and started frantically yelling into it, "Hello?! Stan, is that you!?"

He switched it to speaker so Sandy could hear Stan's voice ringing through the room.

"Guys! I need your help, pronto! C'mon, I'm on the intersection of 4th street and Iliff."

Sandy could have sworn that her father had dropped the phone from the shock, but quickly recovered himself to bring a reply.

"Okay, Stan. C'mon home then," her father pleaded. It tore Sandy's heart to hear him in so much distress.

"I can't! I've got my hands full over here and I-"

The call ended with a sound that Sandy could have sworn was only in the movies. The only voice that could be heard throughout the house was the voice from the phone saying, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and dial the operator. If you need help, press 1…"

The voice was distant to the Torahamus and soon, panic seized them. If this was some kind of joke that Stan had planned, it wasn't very funny to them. As fast as the call had been, Sandy made a bolt for the door.

"And _what _do you think you're doing?" Her father was standing right in front of her, gripping her shoulders to stop her from running out the door. "Have you gone nuts? I'm not letting a _little _girl go outside in the dead of night!"

"I'm not little. And it's, like, seven o' clock! I think that I can handle myself," Sandy retorted, her hand moving past his forearms to attempt another run.

"I'm not letting you go outside!"

"But what about Stan? He hasn't even called yet," Sandy pleaded.

Quickly, her father tugged the sleeve of his shirt up and stuck out his arm, showing the same scar that gashed his elbow and flew down to his knuckles. It was the same one that he always showed the kids to guilt trip them into not going out alone or at night. After she had the image in her mind imprinted vividly, she looked up to his misty, aged eyes to see that they were watering. He bent down a little to see Sandy eye-to-eye.

"Listen. I don't want to lose you. You go out there and some maniac is bound to come around. Just… Just let your brother handle this by himself."

Sandy was about to oblige to his desires, but refused to let herself in. Stan was her only brother and as a brother, he helped her in any situation. She figured that if Stan was gone, then part of her would be too.

"N-No," Sandy stuttered and balled her hands into fists as her own eyes started to pour out tears. "He's my brother! He needs me! Let me go!"

He didn't say anything, just remained hard in the same position. His left jaw tightened and his lip quivered.

"I don't want to lose you."

She gripped his hand and gave an encouraging squeeze, her lips curving a little to show a smile of hope.

"I'll be fine. This is _Stan _we're talking about. He needs me," Sandy chuckled weakly.

Amused at her joke, he straightened up and hugged her. Almost ready to break into tears, he let go and opened the door for Sandy to get out.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked politely. Sandy shook her head back and forth from left to right, indicating that she'd rather do this alone. He looked as if he about to protest, but he knew that someone had to stay at the house to see if Stan would come back and Sandy did know most of the people in Tokyo unlike himself. Then, of course, Sandy easily could know where her brother went if she asked the city folk if they saw a boy that looked just like her walk by.

He sighed and lifted his chin up to the door and Sandy nodded. She saluted playfully, trying to lighten their spirits and remain optimistic. Sandy's father gave a half-hearted chuckle at her view of things in a dire situation. That was the thing that he liked about her ever since he came back. He couldn't believe that he missed out on her vibrant smile whenever he would come home from a tough day of work at the gym from years before. Sandy had never been happy when he was around, he knew it all along. Before, he felt that she should have been punished for not working for good grades, but he finally saw that there was true potential in her when it came to sports, so he had to just go with the flow now. Besides, it didn't matter anymore since Sandy- his very own daughter- was going to be in the Olympics if she worked hard enough. To him, nothing was standing in her way and if everything worked out tonight, then no one would be standing in her way to drag her down.

It was a shame that he didn't know about the _other _person that made Sandy's life a wreck as of now.

Sandy clicked the door lock to get it to open and twisted the doorknob. She took a last glance at her father, a long one at that, before she smiled broadly. She was determined to find her brother and come back home safe and sound before bedtime. It was a pretty tough goal to achieve, but Sandy knew that she was in for the challenge and the feeling was surprisingly exhilarating. In a situation like this, you were supposed to be sad or depressed or at least think with some kind of negative aspect. For Sandy, it was a new adventure, something that she would only get a chance of if she was in the movie theater.

She quickly bid her father goodbye- without tears to her shock- and left the house.


	14. Chapter 14

I'M OUT FOR GOOD! SCHOOL'S OUT, NOT FOR GOOD, BUT FOR THREE MONTHS! ~runs around like an idiot and crashes into a tree~

So… a big thanks to DolphinGoddess 17 for all of her awesome advice! Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Hamtaro.

Chapter 14

Sandy watched the grey, billowing clouds from the north of the city loom over buildings and houses in the suburbs a few miles off. When she turned her head a little, she could see that the streetlights were already lit, indicating that twilight was approaching. A twinge of panic ruptured in her chest at thinking of how late it had gotten and yet she hadn't seen so much as a trace of her twin in the approaching crowds. The only thing that kept her going was the drive to not look like an idiot should she had decided to stop and turn around, then stop, then turn around again. Besides, there was Stan to worry about and, with every short breath, Sandy would heed one foot a little farther and faster.

She hurried, almost ran, past a bar full of drinking and partying men and women. Since it was so crowded, some even leaned against the wall outside of the establishment, chatting and looking to have a good time. But Sandy wasn't fooled. Her father always told her to stay away from any kind of bar and if she had to go through one, run. Just run past it and avoid any eye contact with anyone. After walking in and out of the crowd flowing towards her, she took a sharp turn to the right, thinking that it was the pavement when she bumped into something. It wasn't hard, so Sandy guessed that it wasn't a wall. Her answer was clear when she peered up to see a gruff man with a glass bottle half full of beer in his hand staring down at her.

She leapt back, startled. Head hung down to hide her identity, Sandy muttered a quick "Sorry" and turned to walk onto the pavement when a hand grabbed her right shoulder. It was as if time itself froze. The hand was cold, obviously had held onto an icy beer bottle too long and it sent a wave of chills down her spine. Half praying, Sandy jerked around, moving her shoulder a little for the man to stop holding it, but failed to get the firm hold off. She jolted her chin up to see the face and saw the man was swaying a little, probably from getting drunk to Sandy's horror.

"Hey, girl. You look a little familiar," he said, words slurred.

"Uhh..." Sandy was scared beyond belief. Her eyes kept darting towards the fingers gripped onto her collarbone as she was pleading for a way to get out.

"C'mere, Scotts," the man called over, beckoning another person over with a brandish of his beer bottle. Scotts staggered over while taking a huge gulp of the beer and turned his head to the side at seeing Sandy.

"Doesn't she look familiar?" the man said again. Scotts just looked at her for a while before shooing away the answer with a wave of his hand.

"Naw, Jordan. But she's pretty, you got to give her that," Scotts replied. The man nodded and turned to look at a shaking Sandy who quickly resolved herself, not wanting to be afraid in a situation like this. Sandy, feet cemented to the sidewalk, looked away and shuffled her shoulder bone a little. To her surprise, the man let go and Sandy finally thought it was over until another guy came waltzing over, not looking as drunk as the others.

"Can I buy you something, girl?" he asked, drawling out the 'irl'.

"N-No. I'm too young," Sandy answered quickly and whisked around to see that the man grabbed the front part of her arm. This time, gathering all the courage that she had vested in herself, she scrambled to get away, tugging on her arm to discover that it was useless.

"Hey, don't be like that. You should really get a drink. A whiskey." It wasn't a question. The same men, Scotts and Jordan, walked up a little behind him and stared at Sandy, smirking.

She ran out of courage. It was as if the bravery was drained out of her, breath choking diminishingly as she took a faulty step onto the street. With eyes glued to the alley and the giant, wide pavement next to it, Sandy had this feeling that she should take the pavement side, not the dark alley.

She bolted towards the wide street and, like on her track team, pumped her arms up and down as fast as she could to get more momentum. Breathing heavily with sweat dribbling onto her lip from the tip of her nose, she sprinted at least one hundred yards from the men. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that she had lost them completely through the mazes of the streets. She went from a sprint to an easy job and turned her head in every direction she could. Thinking that she was safe, she screeched to a stop to compose herself.

Regaining part of her jumbled mind, Sandy took in the situation.

She was alone.

She was lost.

She was outnumbered.

Her brother was gone.

Certainly, she had bad luck trailing her everywhere she went.

Then, a ring- Sandy's own ring tone- blasted into the evening. She scrambled to retrieve the phone as the men came around the corner, drifting over to where she was concealed. Rapidly, Sandy pressed a button and then brought the phone to her ear. A quick look over her shoulder told her to start walking immediately and she obeyed her instinct.

"Hello?" she whispered hoarsely into the phone, trying to be as quiet as possible. Her father's voice could be heard from the other end.

"Sandy? Oh, thank heavens. Turns out that Stan was just going out to get the cake and needed help carrying the extra present for you so he called us. Then, this was probably my fault, he actually ran out of minutes-"

"I'LL GET THOSE VERIZON IDIOTS FOR THAT!" Sandy didn't smile at her heard her brother's voice.

"Can't talk. Got to go. Don't know where I am. Hurry up and find me," Sandy ordered in a tense voice while whipping around a corner.

"Sandy, what are you talking about-"

The phone shut off.

"AH, DAMMIT! OF ALL THE DANG DAYS FOR MY MINUTES TO RUN OUT!" Sandy howled and hurled her phone at a warehouse, blowing her cover. Realization dawned on her, slapping her raw across the face to see what she had done.

"Oi! There she is!" one of the men called out to the others. Sandy couldn't believe how fast they were.

"Good, we thought we lost her," another murmured to his companion.

"So." One of the men walked closer up to Sandy. He was now about five feet in front of her, most likely their leader. "What about that drink?"

"I'd never do that!" Sandy spluttered. "You son of a bi-"

The man's face turned purple as he punched Sandy in the jaw and flew the girl back towards the cedar warehouse. Sandy, irritated that she had let him do that, rubbed the bruising spot. Her breaths became short intakes and hoarse exhales, an indication that she was beyond angry. As she looked around, she saw that she easily outnumbered and these people looked as if they were heavy weight lifters. Clenching her fist into a ball, Sandy refrained from attempting to tackle them and started to back away, but hit the wall behind her.

And a sudden wave of shock trekked through her spine when she took in the fact that these people were herding her into this trap. She had been an idiot to not realize it.

"C'mon, girl. Don't you wanna have a drink?" One of the men snickered and the others elbowed each other playfully as they watched Sandy's face change from frightened to mortified.

"Oi! Talk!" one man barked. Sandy remained silent.

"Oh, it's gonna be like that, right? Well, I'll teach you to respect your elders all right. Close your eyes, girl, this is going to hurt you more that it's going to hurt me."

Sandy bit her lip, sinking a little, but refused to give in to their game. She didn't close her eyes. Instead, her eyes averted up towards the Milky Way.

Please, oh, please! Just send someone here to help me, Sandy prayed as the men neared her.

Amazingly, her thought had been answered. Another voice, a male's voice, could be heard from the end of the alley.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" they called out.

It was as if it was an angel called down heaven. Sandy could finally have a clear head after she heard the angel's voice and she managed a quick smile of gratitude. The only reason why she didn't run into the angel's arms was because the voice sounded so familiar.

"And who are you?" one guy sneered. Sandy covered her eyes a little. This was turning into a horror movie.

"That doesn't matter. Leave her alone," the angel ordered. Sandy peeked a little from her palm and tried to identify her savior, but made no avail. It was too dark and the steer lamps weren't much help as they flickered on and off. The only part Sandy knew was that it was a boy because of his baseball cap.

"What makes you think that I'm going to listen to you?" the man retorted, not paying attention to Sandy, who was about to melt into sobs of gratefulness. "Who are you?"

"I told you to leave her alone. And you will do that," the angel repeated. The angel tightened the hat on his skull. For a moment, Sandy considered the thought that Cappy could be the stranger, but she remembered that Cappy had been out of town for a week.

The man cracked his knuckles. "That's it, you are going to mind your own business from this day forth. You either get the hell out of here or die tonight in the spot where you are standing. Got it? Now scram, dammit!"

The angel simply replied, "No."

"You asked for it! Sam, Scotts, go ahead and grab that douche! I'll be the one who's going to give him a lesson," the man said.

"Okay, Jordan," the two-gang members replied automatically and started for the angel. The angel didn't move, to Sandy's surprise, but stood his ground as if wanting to die.

"You will leave her alone," the angel repeated, tightening the baseball cap on his head. "You promise that."

"You douche! You'll be dead, you can't see if I'll kill the girl next!" Jordan yelled at him.

Sandy was horrified. She brought her hand to her mouth to hide her scream at the words of "dead" and "kill". All she wanted right now was for the angel to run, but the angel just remained in his position as if cemented into the ground.

"No. I will not be dead," the angel softly replied. There was something hidden in his voice… Something playful, the kind of amused tone that a person would have when they were keeping something secret.

Jordan was shaking with vehemence and hastily prodded his finger at the angel's chest. The cold whisky from his breath could be smelt, even at Sandy's distance. Sandy gasped as the angel didn't move.

"You listen to me, you douche," he hissed to the angel. "You are going to die. You hear me? Die. And all you care about is the girl. See, your problem is that you're alive in the first place. I'll gladly fix that!"

The angel didn't move, but gazed back up at Jordan. He didn't say anything as Sam and Scotts grabbed his shoulders and Jordan started to throw punches at the angel's face. Sandy was shaking from head to toe right now, sliding down onto the floor as she watched the angel continuously get hit and hit. And hit. And hit. And hit again.

She was choking back her tears, but they streamed down her neck anyway. She wanted to just run up and drag the angel to safety, but she couldn't find her legs. They felt like jelly and she couldn't stand up. But as the angel's baseball cap was knocked off, Sandy stopped crying for a moment and shakily got up. Her knees were wobbling and her ankles trembled, making it difficult to take the first step. Sandy heaved in a deep breath, closed her eyes and started for the brawl.

"Hey, Jordan! The girl's coming," Scotts warned as Jordan brought the angel up the wall and gave a right hook to the angel's stomach.

"The girl? Ha, let her come!" Jordan sneered and continued to rapidly punch at the angel's heart. Sandy felt more anger in her than ever before and she tried to remember all of the ways for self defense, referring to the Twilight book that Bijou had read to Sandy, since the girl was too lazy to actually read it herself.

_Okay, so the self defense stuff were… Popping the eye out. Ew, but I'll do it. Push the nose into the brain. Again, ew. Knee to the groin… I'll leave that one out. Go for the eye popping, Sands, c'mon this is why you watched all of Stan's boxing tournaments!_ Sandy thought. She was two feet behind the fight and the way the angel wasn't giving up made her give a quick twitter of hope, but the angel's face was twisted and bruised. Sandy now knew that he was in a lot of pain, but he refused to show much of it.

"Jordan, you might want to turn around. She looks like she wants to fight you," Sam pointed out. Scotts and himself were folding their arms across their chests, watching the scuffle and snickering whenever the angel gave a small wail of pain.

"Run!" the angel rasped, aiming his word at Sandy. Sandy could feel her heart sink at how bad the angel sounded. Jordan let go of the angel's collar and made a course towards Sandy.

"Ah, shit," Sandy mouthed as she ducked one punch. She had forgotten, of all things, to make a plan probably because she was furious for the men to beat up the angel.

"You want to die too? Okay, I'll kill you first!" Jordan threatened as he threw one punch that missed Sandy by inches. The angel, bleeding and coughing, crawled over to his baseball cap and tightened it onto his skull.

"I said leave her alone!" the angel cried and pointed a shaking finger at Jordan. Sandy quickly dove down towards the ground as Jordan attempted to kick her, fed up with the misaimed punches.

"You douche!" Jordan hollered at the angel. "I'll teach you a good lesson for messing with me!"

"Hey, you!" the angel yelled at Sandy. "Run, just run, okay?"

"But-" Sandy protested, hopping back onto her feet.

"I said run!" the angel barked in a much angrier tone. He remained where he was as Jordan approached where he stood, prepared this time. Sandy had nothing left to do and she stood glued to the place that she was at. Too terrified to see what Jordan could do to the angel, she fled down the street.

Pumping her arms up and down as fast as she could, Sandy zigzagged her way through the maze of abandoned warehouses. Once, she had passed a highway, but when she tried to get help, she found that the highway was fenced with twelve feet of barbed wire. It was getting cold and Sandy started to shiver, nearly slapping herself for not remembering to bring a thicker jacket than her light windbreaker. She rubbed her hands together for warmth and moved her shoulder up to heat up her jaw. Speaking of jaws, her teeth were chattering like crazy and it was so loud that someone fifty feet away could hear it. Exhausted and too scared to get any more lost than this, Sandy sat down between two old buildings used to store motor vehicles.

First off, she thought of her home and how much she missed her father and brother. It sounded corny, but Sandy couldn't help but think that she'd never be able to see them again. Thinking about Stan made her want to throw up after he did such a stupid thing to get her stuck in this mess. However, she shook it off and tried to think about something else as she waited for help to come.

She wished, no, needed, the angel by her side. He was the reason why the police wouldn't be inspecting her dead body now and what did Sandy do? She had left him to die. The guilty feeling swelling in her chest struck her face harder than any blow or left jab. It was awful, holding all of that weight on her back and Sandy bit her lip. She brought her knees to her chest, trying to make the space a little warmer, but it felt as cold as it did from the outside.

"P-Probably from that guy," Sandy said quietly.

For a moment, her imagination took over and she thought that she heard the angel's voice in the far distance. Now, he was probably dead, but what did Sandy care. That angel came from heaven anyway, he was probably already dead. But her fantasies took over her mind as she heard a roar from the same angel's voice. Why in the world would the angel be so sad, so angry? This was beyond Sandy and she couldn't make out why the angel had to sound so frustrated and troubled. If he was dead, he was supposed to sound happy as Sandy had thought. However, before Sandy could get into this any more, the angel gave another loud cry and then it was quiet.

Sandy bolted upright, dismayed by the sound. She rushed off into the direction of the call and found the angel leaning on a wall, blood spluttering from his mouth and nose. Sandy took a quick look around to see that the men were no longer there.

"A-Are you okay?" Sandy questioned meekly, shy of the angel.

The angel didn't answer nor look up. He was far too busy trying to contain the pain and started to breath deeply. His face was covered in blood and his eye (Sandy couldn't see it.) was a nasty shade of midnight blue.

"Do you need help standing?" Sandy extended out a hand for him to grab hold of, but the angel didn't move.

A little angry that he was ignoring her after he had saved her life, Sandy inched a little closer to him. The angel noticed this and looked away from her before muttering, "Get out of here. Go home, you hear

Throat dry and teeth clenched, Sandy could feel a couple of tears come up. "Don't you want to get someone to help-"

"Just go."

Sandy gasped at his harsh words, but it was barely heard. She looked down, bowed respectfully, and started to walk away. Before she left, she whispered something in Japanese that her mother would always say whenever they were doing something fairy tale oriented.

"Oyasuminasai, Tenshi Senpai."

The angel smiled a little before saying, "Oyasuminasai…"

Sandy returned the sad smile before walking off into the night. The angel raised an eyebrow and finished his statement.

"…Torahamu-Chan. Sandy."

Okay, now only one more chapter left! PRAISE THE LORD! I can't stand much more of this… READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE! IF I GET FIVE REVIEWS, YOU GUYS GET THE LAST CHAPTER TOMORROW BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE IT ALL TYPED OUT!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You, young man, will come downstairs right now!" a woman called angrily up the stairs. A young boy ran his right hand through his hair and slowly turned around to face the screaming and purple-faced woman. She was tapping her feet in an agitated way and crossed her arms across her chest, making the boy gulp with fear. The boy looked on with solemn eyes and took in a deep breath as he trudged downstairs.

"Faster!" the woman commanded, sounding like a general for an army. The boy took two steps at one time and finally landed down at the foot of the stairs. He didn't dare to glance up because the phrase "If looks could kill…" ran through his head too fast and too much.

"What happened? Why did you leave the house?" the woman demanded into the boy's ear.

"Mom, I already told you, I was out for a walk," the boy murmured, clutching his baseball cap harder.

"Then why are you covered in blood?"

The boy moved his head up a little and opened his jaw to say something, but his ecstatic mother once again interrupted him.

"I can't believe you would do a stupid stunt like that!" the woman roared, arms thrown up in the air. "What happened to you? Did you fall? You better pray that you fell because-"

"I ran into a tree," the boy said lamely. He couldn't help it, that was his best explanation. His mother's eyes widened and her arms fell lifeless to her sides in disbelief of the obvious lie.

"You ran into a tree," she repeated, skeptical of the explanation. Her son's head bobbed up and down. She bent her head down to see the ground and then back up, eyes closed.

"Now, sweetie, please. You have a black eye, bruises on your knuckles, and scabs and/or blood covering your body. And you expect me to believe that a tree did this to you," she said slowly, making sure every word was intact.

"Yes," her son said, a little frightened for the trouble he caused. "It was dark after all and I'm so tall, I could have hit the branches. I'm at least six feet, maybe a little below that."

He faked a smile to change the topic and the awkwardness in the air. His mother rubbed her temple, something that he only did. After she had stopped looking at him, he took advantage of the time and quickly wiped the beads of sweat off of his forehead. He flinched after his pinky swiped at his black eye. Biting his lip to stop crying out in pain, he regained himself right before his mother looked back at him. Her face was twisted, signaling that he was in more trouble than he could have ever dreamed of. Half closing an eye, he waited for his punishment.

"Maxwell Noppo," his mother started off. "You decided to leave the house saying that you were going out for a walk. Did you see any of your friends?"

"N-No, Mom. I just went out for a walk and…" Maxwell's voice trailed off to his horror.

"Are you sure?" his mother asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yeah! Of course, why would I see any of them?" Maxwell retorted, a little too defensive. He leaned a little back as his mother's face turned a little redder.

"Because, I remember you walking after one _very _special girl ran whom ran past our house. Immediately, you told me that you should go out for a walk when it was fifty degrees outside and a wind chill of about ten. Then, while you denied that you were following her, you ran. Towards a bar and where the warehouses were…"

* * *

"Oh, Sandy! I'm going to miss you so much!" Bijou cried and wept into Sandy's sleeve again. The only reason that Bijou had hugged the left side of her body was because Pashmina's sobs occupied her right shoulder. Penelope was bawling into Sandy's jeans while the other ham-hams looked on. Hamtaro moved forward towards Sandy and smiled his classic huge grin at her.

"You have a good time, Sandy!" Hamtaro cheered as he high fived her.

"Thanks, Hamtaro," Sandy replied and set a glance towards a blushing Bijou. She sighed and thought of how much she would miss this. Her friends. Her family. Even the way that Howdy and Dexter would fight over a candy cane during Christmas.

"C'mon, sis, one more hug?" Stan offered his sister with open arms. He had tried to hard not to cry, but managed to shed a few tears in the men's room anyway, according to Boss's account. Sandy felt puddles swimming out her eyes but quickly wiped them away.

"You idiot. You had at least, like, fifty hugs," Sandy giggled as she heaved her suitcase up from the floor. Everyone was boarding the plane now and her new agent was impatiently waiting for the waterworks to end.

"I'm your brother! And you are so overreacting," Stan sighed. He smiled and said smugly, "I only hugged you thirty times."

Sandy rolled her eyes, but already gave him a quick squeeze before throwing her purse over her arm. Stan looked at her with big, puppy dog eyes and held her arm.

"You know that none of us really wanted you to go," he started off slowly.

Sandy shrugged his hand off and replied bitterly, "Like, you know that I'm coming home for Christmas and stuff. Especially for our birthday-"

"Sis, our 15th birthday is in two weeks."

Sandy brought a hand to her mouth and softly gasped at how quickly she lost track of the time. She lowered her hand and slouched her shoulders. She felt so guilty right now, almost ready to slap herself for doing such a thing. Sandy really didn't know that her birthday- including Stan's- was in two weeks on June 6th and usually she would be forgiven for something like this, but now it was different. The next time that Sandy would actually come back to Japan, it'd be Christmas, a far ways away from any birthday festivity. The others felt this silence and each gazed off into separate directions as Sandy and Stan tried to work things out.

"Stan, you know that I'll give you your birthday present," Sandy whispered and patted his arm sympathetically. Stan had that same blank expression face imprinted onto his face.

"But it won't be the same," he complained. Sandy gave a reassuring smile.

"Remember our seventh birthday?" Sandy asked with a burning passion to bring this up. Stan's eyes widened in fright and he nodded meekly.

"Well, we made it without Dad and I'm sure that you can make it without me."

"But I'm right here-" Their father had eavesdropped, but he swiftly figured it out. "Oh, sorry. Not me. Yeah, I'll just… get out of this….Twin bonding… Moment… thing."

Stan and Sandy both looked at him before laughing a little. But just for a little. Stan sighed and rubbed his face before saying, "Sandy, I'm sorry. I'm the older one and I shouldn't be moping about, right? You have a good time in Colorado, say hi to all the cute surfers there for me."

"Stan!" Sandy laughed. "There are_ snowboarders_ and _skiers _in Colorado. Plus, I'm not going to the beach or mountains. I'm on the other side of the entire state."

Stan's shoulders seemed to droop at the thought of not much of a choice of girls in Colorado but Sandy continued, "But there are lots of girls in Denver. Like, total fans of 30H!3 and stuff so I'll tell them about your 'rapping' skills."

Stan grinned at her. "Awesome! If I can't get the sporty chicks over there, I'll totally have a shot at the musical babes. Dude, I so can't wait for you to leave now!"

Sandy raised an eyebrow as her agent tapped his foot impatiently.

"Ms. Torahamu. We are running on a tight schedule! You need to board the plane in about five minutes!" her agent barked, rapping his index finger on his digital watch.

"Hey, look, Sandy. We'll miss you so much," Alice said as Sydney and herself waited for the crowd to die down.

"Thanks, Alice. You too, Sydney. Especially for helping me get out of that awful school," Sandy chuckled. Alice laughed a little, but Sydney was pale white.

"Yeah, whatever. Calculus is too easy," Sydney hiccupped. Alice rolled her eyes at her friend and gave Sandy a quick hug. She let go and shot a glare at Sydney.

"Aren't you going to give Sandy a hug? After all, she did teach you how to play baseball." Alice laughed out loud at thinking of Sydney's "baseball" skills. She thought that Sydney had been more suited for a dodge ball team.

"She's had enough hugs. Give the girl a little space," Sydney sniffled. Sandy shrugged and lifted one gym bag before almost being knocked over in Sydney's bone crushing bear hug.

"Oh, S-Sandy! I-I'm going to- to miss you s-so m-much!" Sydney sobbed into Sandy's new sweatshirt. Sandy, still stunned of such an action, didn't hug until about five seconds later with her mind dazed.

"Ms. Torahamu!"

"Be right there," Sandy replied to her red-faced agent. Sydney still clung to Sandy's arms and cried all over the girl. Sandy sent a little face that meant "Please help me" to everyone and they all laughed. Alice quickly pried Sydney from Sandy, giggling the entire time. Sandy's father, out in the back for quite sometime now, moved forward up to her.

"Hey there, champ," he greeted with a big-toothed grin. Sandy returned the smile.

"Hey, Dad," Sandy replied quietly. It was very quiet then.

"So I guess this is it," she said. Her father nodded. Sandy sighed, but then smiled.

"What's so funny?" her father asked in a suspicious tone, looking down at his shirt and wiping his face if there was anything wrong with him.

"Nothing. I'm just imagining you trying to take care of Stan all by yourself," Sandy chortled.

Her father faked a shocked look and whispered quickly into her ear, "Thanks. Now you gave me more to worry about."

Sandy took it seriously and opened her mouth to take back what she said, but her father interrupted her. "Now _I_ have to drag Stan away when he flirts."

"Don't you think I didn't hear that!" Stan called out in a joking matter.

Sandy and her father both laughed heartily and gave each other a quick hug. They swayed for a minute while others, ham-hams and strangers alike, gazed on and sighed happily, thinking that this was a right happy ending. Little did they know that something was missing…

"Remember that time when you went into kindergarten?" he whispered into her ear.

"Yeah. Darkest day of my life," Sandy shuddered, letting a smile curve her lips. Her father stopped hugging her and gave her a confused look.

"Darkest day of you life? The school was called "Sunrise Elementary School", I heard. What's so dark about that?" he teased.

Sandy moved her shoulders up and down. "It was the day that I learned that school was a torture prison."

Her father gave a musical laugh and shook his head. "But you met so many friends there."

"Sometimes I wish that I didn't even meet some of them…" Sandy said solemnly.

* * *

"_But, Mama! I don't want to go to spool!" a little girl whined._

_"Sandy, please. Just follow Mama and everything will be fine," her mother replied, still a little dazed from the car ride to the elementary school. _

_"Yeah! And it's called school, not spool, stupid! I bet that you're going to fail class!" Stan taunted. Sandy pushed him onto the ground._

_"You're so mean!" Sandy cried. Stan brushed the dirt off of his jeans and shoved Sandy into a tree._

_"You're so stupid!" Stan retorted._

_"You're so evil!" _

_"You're so ugly!"_

_"Stan, we're iden-identi…"_

_"Identical twins, sweetums," her mother helped out. Sandy nodded and turned back to her brother. Stan turned away to go look for someone else to bother. Or better, go out looking for a girlfriend._

_"I don't know why you even let them fight," a man said as he walked up to Sandy and her mother. He looked exactly like Stan and Sandy did, most likely their real father._

_"They need to learn a few things about standing up. Plus, they argue all of the time," the mother explained. Then, Sandy ran up to them while pointing a finger behind her._

_"Mama, Mama! Stan told me to get lost!" Sandy sobbed as hugged her mother's legs and pretended to cry. She cackled at the thought of Stan getting into trouble. Instead of her mother holding her hand and walking her to Stan, her father, the man next to her mother, swooped her up from the ground and set her on his shoulders._

_"C'mon, rookie. We're going to teach Stan a lesson or two, am I right or am I right?" he laughed. Sandy laughed along with him and the two forged on their journey to look for Stan. But when they got there, Stan was talking to another kid who had orange and white hair. When he spotted his family, his eyes lit up and he called them over. _

_"Dad! Look, this is Hamtaro! He can shoot a spitball fifty feet! And I think that's really long!" Stan said excitingly as if he was face to face with Micheal Jordan. _

_"Eww! You guys are so sick!" Sandy squealed and leapt off of her father's shoulders. She didn't even look back, for she was afraid of one of Hamtaro's spitball's flying her face. She ran inside the school and was ready to enter a classroom when-_

_"Ooof!" _

_Sandy flew backwards and flung into a wall. She clutched her head and she moaned in pain, completely forgetting the person she ran into. Her head was still throbbing, but not because of her skull slamming into the wall, it was because something else hit her forehead. She was thankful that it wasn't bleeding though and looked over to the left to see a picture book. _

_"Can I please have my book back?" a voice asked. _

_Sandy's head jerked up to see a boy sprawled on the floor trying to get up from the collision. Sandy took the book into her arms and extended her arm out for him to grab it. The boy looked up and smiled, taking the book and clutching it to his side. Sandy returned the smile easily. _

_"Hi, I'm Maxwell. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," the boy greeted, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment._

_"Oh, it's totally cool!" Sandy cheered, waving it off with a brandish of her hand._

_Maxwell turned his head to the side and inquired, "Totally?"_

_Sandy nodded her head. "Yup! I totally like to say… Um, totally!"_

_"Oh, it just doesn't seem right without the word 'like'," Maxwell chuckled. This time, Sandy was the one who was confused._

_"Like? I'm supposed to say 'like'?" Sandy repeated. Maxwell nodded happily and Sandy decided to try it out. "Um, like, that was totally cool!"_

_"Hey, that was pretty good! See, it works better, doesn't it?" Maxwell said, impressed with his advice. _

_"Totally! I mean, like, totally!" Sandy laughed. Then, her dad turned around the corner and he looked overjoyed to see her. Her father ran over to her and gave a great bear hug that was enough to cut off Sandy's circulation. _

_"Aw, Sandy! I'm so glad I found you!" her father hollered into her ear. The sound was ringing in Sandy's eardrums right now. Her father then set her down as fast as he picked her up and scolded, "I don't want you to run off again, you hear me, missy? You're in a lot of trouble and school is about to start!"_

_"But, like, I found a new friend! His name is, like, Maxwell," Sandy introduced and Maxwell gave a sheepish wave with his book. Her father looked from her to Maxwell and back, eyebrows furrowing together._

_"Like?" he said at last._

_"Totally!" Sandy and Maxwell giggled in unison. Her father gave them both a funny look before beckoning them over to walk to class._

_"You ready, Sandy? Maxwell?" he asked the both of them as he opened the door to their classroom._

_"Affirmative!" Maxwell called out, lifting his book into the air excitingly._

_"Well, cadet, move out!" Sandy's father joked and Maxwell bobbed his head up and down. He quickly ran inside, but stopped at the doorway to wait for Sandy._

_"Sandy…" her father hummed sarcastically, waiting for his daughter to say something. _

_"Uh, what he said," Sandy mumbled and hopped through the doorway. Maxwell gave her a quick smile and Sandy turned her head away, not knowing why. The bookworm shrugged and took a seat. But he didn't know that Sandy slowly looked up and shyly grinned at him._

_She already liked him._

* * *

"Why do you wish that you never met some of them?" Sandy's stepfather asked in shock.

"Long story short, I met a few people, thought they were my friend, but turns out they weren't," Sandy muttered bitterly, making a mad dash for her possessions. The plane was boarding the last few people and Sandy didn't want her agent's head to explode from the waiting. Facing everyone's sad expressions, Sandy knew that she looked exactly like them, maybe even worse. However, this was her dream and she always wanted to fulfill it. It was what she always worked for, what she threw in her blood and tears for. She was glad with her decision, her decision to make her family grin proudly whenever she would be mentioned and she was determined to make that a reality. Her heart felt was complete except for what felt like an empty, black hole in the middle of it.

"Oh, Sandy. Some guy wanted to give this to you," Sandy's agent said in a monotone, not sounding interested at all. He handed her a tiny basket, the kind for gift baskets, but it had a bouquet of roses in it, Sandy's favorite kind of flowers. Giving him a puzzled look, Sandy slowly took out the roses to get a bunch of "ooooohh's" from Bijou and Pashmina. Sandy stuck her tongue at them for her friend's excessive giggling to cease. She then whipped out a Milky Way bar. The object bewildered everyone else, but Sandy knew perfectly well what it meant and it made her give a soft laugh despite the sad memories.

Next, Sandy unearthed a frayed, dusty old baseball cap. Sandy's lip twitched at the familiarity. She thought that she had seen that some place, she was sure of it. Letting it go, Sandy gasped at what else was in the basket.

Slowly, and very carefully, Sandy cradled her mother's red ribbon in her hands. Tears emerged in her eyes and Sandy held it close to her stomach seeing as it was in perfect condition. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment as Sandy let the others look.

"Whoa, what's that?" Oxnard asked after popping the last of his snack into his mouth.

"It's my mother's ribbon. To tie up my hair, you know?" Sandy was sure that this was a dream, it was basically a miracle that she had retrieved it.

"It looks great!" Pashmina squealed, clapping her hands in gratitude that Sandy found it.

"Yeah…" Sandy couldn't find her voice right now, she was so happy. Quickly, she wound the ribbon to fit her ponytail's shape. Pulling on the two loose ends, the ribbon tightened on her hair and Sandy cast a wide grin. It already felt like it meant there, the warmth on her head was so noticeable.

"Sandy, looks like you got a note," Hamtaro noticed and pointed to the almost empty basket. Sandy wrinkled her eyebrows together and, with a shaking hand, lifted the note up to her face while Bijou and Pashmina led everyone else away for privacy. Sandy sent them a telepathic "Thank you" and opened the note. The handwriting seemed to be flawless, something that sent chills down Sandy's spine at seeing scribbles like this before.

_Dear Sandy,_

_I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make you feel that bad, but at least you're moving on. I'm proud even if you'll never notice what I'm writing. Good luck._

It wasn't signed, but Sandy perfectly knew whom it was from. And her heart nearly stopped when she read the P.S part of the letter.

_P.S. Sorry I couldn't come to the big "Bon Voyage". The doctor said that I needed to rest a few days before I could be released out of the hospital. No need for alarm, just next time, make sure that you don't get lost in a bunch of warehouses while being stalked by, oh, I don't know, three or four drunk men and have to wait for an "angel" to come by and save you. I'm sure that the angel wasn't that fit and he needs to rest. ; )_

Sandy gripped the paper tighter and was crushing the margin's ink before her agent, with a concerned look on his face, gripped her shoulder.

"Ms. Torahamu, you have to board the plane now," he ordered and Sandy whisked around to the ham-hams and her family.

"Bye, everyone! I'll see you soon!" Sandy yelled over to them.

"We'll miss you!" Hamtaro promised.

"_Oui! _I cannot vait to see you again! _Au revoir!_" Bijou waved, tears in her sapphire eyes and Hamtaro gave her a reassuring hug.

"Take care, Sandy!" Boss said as he gave Sandy a stinging slap on the back.

"Ookyoo, ookyoo!" Penelope squeaked, being the little girl she was.

"She says bye too!" Pashmina translated. "See you, Sandy. "

"Be cool at the Olympics for us, all right?" Panda told her.

"Go for the gold!" Oxnard cheered on.

"Just don't panic and you'll be fine. Now get back in line…"

"Be quiet, Jingle, and just say something that doesn't involve rhymes. Bye, Sandy!" Cappy scolded and then gave Sandy a quick grin.

"Ya'll are gonna make me cry!" Howdy gasped while putting a hand to his heart.

Dexter rolled his eyes and said, "That's how Howdy says 'goodbye'. But will miss you, Sandy, really we will."

"Goodbye! Have fun in Colorado!" they all chorused at last.

Stan stepped forward and whispered, " 'Lil sis. I guess I can't call you that anymore. I'll see you around. Make me proud, you here me? Or I'll hunt you down."

Sandy flashed a brilliant smile at her brother and her friends. Her father winked at her and she giggled. Sandy gave a quick wave at them before boarding the plane, ready to take this life to the next level.

And for the first time in about a week, she was blushing as she thought of _him_ and she couldn't wait until-

Well, that's another story.

* * *

OH, GLORY HALLELUJAH! I'M FINISHED, I'M FINISHED! HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, I'M FINISHED!!!!!

Now, a special thanks to all of my kind reviewers:

SonicHam794: I haven't really heard from this guy lately, but he was the first one EVA to review this story! He's an awesome guy to get to know. Thanks so much!

Duckie P.O.V: WHERE THE HECK DID EVERYONE GO?! Ha, well he gave me so much feedback that has rocketed the quality of my writing. Which isn't high, but it's a start! Thanks a bunch!

DolphinGoddess 17: OMG, WHAT WOULD HAVE I DONE WITHOUT MY BETA?! She's awesomely awesome and I owe every grammar and punctuation mark fix to her. Plus, she totally helped with my writing and the way I think. YOU'RE THE BEST, DG 17!

HamtaroXbijouLover: Aw, he just makes me want to cry sometimes. He's way too nice and such a big fan which totally gives him a round of applause. WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD AND READING THIS, YOU TOTALLY MADE MY DAY WITH YOUR REVIEWS! BESIDES, HE INCREASED MY HxB FANDOM! THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Mele LiSun: One of the best reviewers that just lifted my heart. Wherever you are, I owe you, like, a million thanks.

xxPurpelicious: The one who made me keep writing in the beginning chapters if you will. She was some of my inspiration in this and now that I think of it, I really couldn't have done this without her. THANKS, PURPEL!

Papayas Say That's Kooky: This was the amazing guy who gave me a "STOP WITH THE SAPPY AND GET TO THE REAL PARTS OF THE FRICKING STORY!" slap. I needed his review and critisim or else this story would be a wreck. (Not saying that it already isn't…) Awesome job, dude, I'll be sure to change my writing.

Heaven-Sent SilverAngel: He-he-hea-heav *slaps herself* HEAVEN-SENT SILVERANGEL SENT _**ME **_A REVIEW?! OMG, IT'S WRITERS LIKE HER THAT MADE ME KEEP GOING WITH THIS! *STARTS TO BURST INTO TEARS* THANK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!

Chipmunk4ever: She's so sweet for sticking to my stories. Once again, I just want to burst into tears for all of her kind reviews. She is one of the people who was my inspiration for this story and you just got to love the way she'll say that this was a good story. Like, thanks so much!

Lizadeth: I'm so, so, so glad that I could actually impress you with this story. I'm not the best writer around, but it's people like her that always manage to lift by heart a little. Yay! Kudos to you!

ChargingFowardBlind: STARDOM ALERT! A great reviewer, a great writer, and a great friend, she always managed to cheer me up. Especially with those kind reviews and her excellent stories! OMG, OMG, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Ham Luver: It's so nice to see that some people who don't have a FanFiction account (But I hope you do!) still review my stories even if they think that it isn't a big deal. Thanks, Ham Luver, wherever you are!

Chezgurl7: This was the first story you ever read?! OMG, OMG, OMG! ~reviewers slap Laura~ Sorry, but I was so overwhelmed by that! Did it really catch your attention like that? Oh, dang… Well, to answer your question, you can upload stories by typing them up on Microsoft or whatever writing program you have, log onto FanFiction, go to "Document Manager", and download your work right there! Sorry to get to your question so late, but I believe that I sent you a PM before saying all of that. Anyway, thanks again for your review and sticking to this story! Love it!

Anonymous: I honestly don't know who this guy/girl is, but thanks so much for reading my story! You don't know how much I appreciate it! THANK YOU!!!!

And a big "THANK THE DEAR LORD THAT YOU READ THIS" to all of my readers. This was my most popular story and remember that I'm planning a sequel… if you want it. And if you want it, mention it in your review! Please tell the truth otherwise, I think that I'll give up writing forever. (JK, but please review)

**JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS, HamtaroXbijouLover HAS BEEN ON HAITUS SO YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS AWESOME STORIES, GOT THAT, SOLDIER?!**

THANKS AGAIN! BYE-Q, EVERYONE!

-sxmfan :3

*Laura ;)


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